The Science of Magic
January 13, 2012 3:19 PM Subscribe
The Science of Magic
I like science. I like magic. This is my attempt to bring the two together. The Science of Magic is a series of easy to do magic tricks made available for the purpose of teaching students how to apply the scientific method in, what I hope will be, a fun and informative way.
Magicians are always asked, “how did you do that?” and, as it happens, we have a perfectly good tool available to help us answer that question. And, of course, any other questions we have about the world around us.
The concept is simple: perform a magic trick for your students, and then challenge them to figure out how it was done applying the scientific method. Forming hypotheses, designing experiments, etc.
My goal is to make the tricks easy (for the teacher/parent/whoever) to learn and easy to perform but not obvious or too easy (for the students) to figure out.
I've been working on this for a while and, having completed "Volume 1," I'm taking a bit of a break, but I intend for the project to be on-going. The tricks will be organized in loosely themed volumes of 4-6 tricks each. For instance, "Volume 1: I Know What You're Thinking" is a collection of five mind-reading tricks. I currently have no idea what volume two's theme will be. Suggestions definitely welcome.
I'm not an educator of any sort, so if any parents, teachers, or anybody else have suggestions for how to make the series better or more useful, I'm all ears.
Contributions welcome: help me hunt down and destroy any lingering typos, submit your own tricks, cover art (if any generous soul felt like donating same), or just let me know how it goes if you use any of the tricks.
Everything is released under a creative commons license. Full text available online and also as pdf and epub downloads (indivdually or grab the whole thing). Feel free to spread it around!
I like science. I like magic. This is my attempt to bring the two together. The Science of Magic is a series of easy to do magic tricks made available for the purpose of teaching students how to apply the scientific method in, what I hope will be, a fun and informative way.
Magicians are always asked, “how did you do that?” and, as it happens, we have a perfectly good tool available to help us answer that question. And, of course, any other questions we have about the world around us.
The concept is simple: perform a magic trick for your students, and then challenge them to figure out how it was done applying the scientific method. Forming hypotheses, designing experiments, etc.
My goal is to make the tricks easy (for the teacher/parent/whoever) to learn and easy to perform but not obvious or too easy (for the students) to figure out.
I've been working on this for a while and, having completed "Volume 1," I'm taking a bit of a break, but I intend for the project to be on-going. The tricks will be organized in loosely themed volumes of 4-6 tricks each. For instance, "Volume 1: I Know What You're Thinking" is a collection of five mind-reading tricks. I currently have no idea what volume two's theme will be. Suggestions definitely welcome.
I'm not an educator of any sort, so if any parents, teachers, or anybody else have suggestions for how to make the series better or more useful, I'm all ears.
Contributions welcome: help me hunt down and destroy any lingering typos, submit your own tricks, cover art (if any generous soul felt like donating same), or just let me know how it goes if you use any of the tricks.
Everything is released under a creative commons license. Full text available online and also as pdf and epub downloads (indivdually or grab the whole thing). Feel free to spread it around!
Role: creator, author
Nice...minor point...you misspelled "Volume" on the front page.
posted by timsteil at 4:47 PM on January 14, 2012
posted by timsteil at 4:47 PM on January 14, 2012
you misspelled "Volume" on the front page.
Yeah that sounds like something I'd do. I'll fix it right away. Thanks!
These are really terrific!
Thanks! Glad you like them!
posted by Mister_Sleight_of_Hand at 8:24 PM on January 14, 2012
Yeah that sounds like something I'd do. I'll fix it right away. Thanks!
These are really terrific!
Thanks! Glad you like them!
posted by Mister_Sleight_of_Hand at 8:24 PM on January 14, 2012
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posted by smoke at 9:56 PM on January 13, 2012