Lately, I’ve been studying the different scales of our Universe and have become aware of a certain micro-genre of science films I call the “cosmic zoom”. The cosmic zoom film attempts to place the human being in perspective with the rest of the universe, from the subatomic particle to the galactic cluster.

It all started with The Powers of Ten (1968), a film by Ray Eames, based on the book, Cosmic View, by dutch educator Kees Boeke. I’m sure it blew some minds in the late 60s, and it was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry in 1998. The technique was updated by Cosmic Voyage in 1998 for the IMAX and used again (the macroscopic half) by The Known Universe in 2009 for the American Museum of Natural HIstory.

One of the foundations of Montessori education is the “cosmic curriculum.” These lessons give the child a sense of their place in the universe and serve as a jumping off point for the rest of their education. With this in mind, I chose to show Cosmic Voyage to my first and second graders during our last rainy gardening day, and the kids loved it. It was so cool to hear them tell their parents, “Mommy, I saw DNA!”

If you need to put it all into perspective, check out these cosmic zoom films yourself on YouTube:

Powers of Ten (1968)
by Ray Eames

Cosmic Voyage IMAX (1996)
by Bayley Silleck

The Known Universe (2009)
by American Museum of Natural History