The Japanese TV show PythagoraSwitch makes strange devices to aid learning. <3Yen provides a translation of the shows mission statement:
Within our daily lives, which we go about without thinking much about the many mysteries, archetypes, themes and more varied ways of thought. For example, have you ever thought why waffles are always the same shape? Behind it all is concept of “having a shape.†There all sorts of these archetypes/shapes: in print, in mass-produced goods and whatnot. Understanding these these “shapes†let’s you grasp how these things work. “Pythagoras Switch†wants to help kids have that moment of A-HA! We want to raise thinking about thinking, to flip that epiphany switch in every child.