The Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc launches science-oriented TV show ‘Mind S-Cool’

Batibot. Sineskwela. ATBP. The Philippines has a rich history of children’s television, educating generations of viewers who have since gone on to be the moving forces of today.  

But sadly we are also currently living in an era of flat-earthing, smart-shaming, and fake news. Add to that a pandemic affecting the entire globe, with education as one of its indirect casualties. In the Philippines where bad internet is still a thing, online learning seems to be the way to go for the time being.

For the Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc., the institution behind The Mind Museum in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, it poses a new challenge. “We need to repurpose what a museum should stand for in this crisis,” says Maria Isabel Garcia, Managing Director and curator of BAFI. And if people cannot go to The Mind Museum, why not bring The Mind Museum to the people?

Enter Mind S-Cool, a children’s TV show that combines science and art into one engaging educational experience. Set in the huge and exciting galleries of The Mind Museum as the new “dream school”, the show aims to bridge the sciences and the arts for its viewers, connecting them to their real-world applications, and empowering learners to help make the world better in the so-called ‘new normal.’

Hosted by The Mind Museum’s resident Mind Movers Mikee Estorga and Pecier Decierdo, the show promises to be a fun journey through scientific concepts and theories normally taught in schools, but with exciting twists and practical presentations. Communicating these ideas to children (and people of all ages, actually) tends to be a daunting task. And usually, according to Decierdo, who is an astronomer, the challenging aspect of it is with the person answering scientific inquiries from young inquisitive minds. “Young people ask very good questions,” he says. “But I learned that we need to be in touch with the humanities as well.”

Estorga, a chemical engineer, agrees. “One very effective method [we use to educate children] is that we are able to show them if we cannot tell them. This way we build on their curiosity and critical thinking.”

They will feature appearances by engaging personalities from different industries, helping the hosts unveil the answer to all connected questions through engaging ways like experiments, show-and-tell with exhibits and illustrations, stories, and even difficult conversations. They will also have online visits from “rockstar scientists” (like Filipino scientists working in, say, CERN) and other interesting characters set in their professional spaces like construction sites, archeological digs, robot labs and museum partners around the world.

Garcia herself is a proponent of developing scientific thinking in culture because “the scientist is always curious, and open to the possibility that he or she might be wrong. Learning becomes an adventure.”

MIND S-COOL TV can be viewed on CNN-Philippines (free TV ch. 9, Cignal ch. 10, Sky Cable ch. 14) every Saturday starting August 22 at 830am and 430pm, with simultaneous streaming on www.cnnphilippines.com/videos.

MIND S-COOL Online will focus more on the explorations of the main characters in science- and art-based topics that are part of the K-12 curriculum. Access is via subscription basis.