Gallery
Experiment overview
An interactive educational experiment delivered during Researchers’ Night at the Experiment Science Center in Gdynia Poland, designed to challenge children’s perception of the internet as something “virtual”, weightless, and environmentally neutral.
Through performative demonstrations and playful interventions, the session revealed the material reality of digital infrastructure and its ecological consequences, translating complex environmental concepts into experiences that could be physically seen, touched, and emotionally grasped.
Main objectives
The experiment aimed to make the environmental impact of digital technologies comprehensible for young audiences through a sequence of interconnected, sensory-based activities:
☀︎ Revealing unexpected facts about the physical internet infrastructure, such as underwater cables damaged by sharks, to destabilise the myth of digital immateriality.
☀︎ Conducting a “TikTok vs. Water” live experiment that illustrated the water footprint generated by continuous scrolling and video streaming.
☀︎ Introducing an “Email Carbon Puzzle” that visualised emissions produced by everyday digital actions, translating abstract CO₂ data into physical coal pieces.
☀︎ Distributing rulers made from recycled electronic waste, familiarising children with e-waste as both a material reality and a potential resource for creative reuse.
Achieved results
The experiment successfully transformed abstract digital processes into tangible understanding by bridging play, curiosity, and embodied learning.
The “TikTok vs. Water” activity proved particularly impactful, triggering immediate reflection on habitual screen behaviours, while the “Email Carbon Puzzle” enabled children to grasp the idea that even seemingly insignificant actions carry environmental consequences.
The recycled motherboard rulers, awarded as prizes, extended the learning experience beyond the lecture space, reinforcing circular thinking by transforming waste into meaningful everyday objects.
Main reflection
This experiment confirmed that effective environmental education for children depends less on data transmission and more on sensory engagement and emotional resonance.
By converting invisible digital processes into physical interactions, the lecture fostered a deeper awareness of the relationship between online behaviour and planetary resources. It demonstrated that when knowledge is embodied through play and materiality, it becomes not only understood, but remembered and internalised.