Magic In the Classroom Survey

We are currently crowd sourcing examples of using magic as teaching tool in classrooms and other science communication contexts.

Two key kinds of materials we’re looking to collect & share are syllabi for magic-themed courses and lesson plans for smaller more self contained demonstrations.

The idea is that we’ll compile the ideas and share them here on the SoMA website, as a resource for folks are looking to try out new magic-related material in their own work.

You can submit your ideas via the following forms:

• If you have a google account you can upload directly via this form

• Alternatively, if you’d prefer not use a google account you can fill in this form, and can fill out this form, and then send us your content via an email to scienceofmagicassoc@gmail.com

To kick things off here’re some examples of syllabi and lessons:

• The first syllabus is from a course that I designed for undergraduate students who were enrolled in an intensive summer program at the University of Oxford

  • You can view the syllabus for my Summer Seminar in The Psychology of Illusion Here

• The second syllabus is from Dr. Anthony Barnhart’s course on ‘The Cognitive Science of Magic’ this course is likewise geared towards undergraduate university students

  • You can view the syllabus for Tony’s Cognitive Science of Magic Course HERE

• The next example is a lesson developed by Dr. Anthony Barnhart on the topic of ‘fooling students into thinking critically’. It uses a a simple interactive card trick and is well suited for an introductory psychology lecture

  • You can view the lesson on ‘Fooling Students into Thinking Critically’ HERE

• And one more example lesson from me. This is a piece that I’ve incorporated into university classrooms and also public engagement activities for a variety of audiences. It also uses a card trick (you can use actual cards and/or have an animated powerpoint do the work for you) to interactively demonstrate the phenomena of change blindness

  • You can see my Change Blindness Card Trick Lesson in action here

    • I’ve included a video of me performing/teaching, along with detailed instructions on how you can design your own custom demonstration stimuli

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Please direct any questions related to this project to scienceofmagicassoc@gmail.com

I hope you find the above examples useful, and thanks in advance for contributing your ideas!

-Matt Tompkins

On behalf of the SoMA Committee