Force Trainer courtesy of USA Today and Uncle Milton Industries

Have you heard about Force Trainer?  Toymaker Uncle Milton Industries‘ Executive Vice President Frank Adler described the Force Trainer as

The wireless headset reads your brainwaves through dry sensor technology and can determine the differences between alpha, beta, gamma and delta waves. This allows a chip inside the Force Trainer to use an algorithm to interpret the data and translate it to physical action, which in this case moves the Training Sphere into different sections of the cylinder…it’s not a matter of “more powerful” brain waves as much as “more focused.” It’s very much like the concept of practicing the Force as you see in the films. The deeper you are able to concentrate, the more you will ‘feel the force flowing through you,’ and the more you will be able to move the Training Sphere. The device will interpret different levels of focus rather than being just one big on/off switch.

Is it possible we can use this to support learning?  I remember my 4th grade teacher fussing about my double digit multiplication facts saying, “You’re not concentrating!”  Now with a few electrodes, that lady-in-my-GPS-system-voice could fuss at me for not paying attention and concentrating in an online class.  Luckily, that doesn’t deter me from wanting to try and use the force to lift a plastic ball in a make-believe wind tunnel using a suped-up hair dryer, holding out my hand to “guide” the Force and praying my midichlorian count is higher than that of a 8-year-old — all while trying to remember that anger toward said ball, wind tunnel and hair dryer leads to hate, hate leads to . . . etc.

Gizmodo has more photos of more-geeky adults trying it out. Check it out.