Welcome to a Magical Exploration of Science on...

IT'S NOT MAGIC, IT'S SCIENCE!

When we hear someone talking about magic it conjures-up within each of us many different thoughts and feelings. Great magicians of the past have captivated their audience with powerful illusions that defied understanding and magical words and phrases that set in motion fantasy and imagination. Things that are magic possess distinctive qualities that produce illusions with unaccountable or baffling effects. They demand of their audience thought and challenge us all to imagine solutions to what we have witnessed.

Using magic as the introduction to ideas in the classroom evokes in students these same feelings and challenges each of them to imagine solutions. It gets them to think, incorporate new information, observe, test, apply, and perhaps change their original ideas about what is possible. Magical illusions offer us the opportunity to directly challenge individual misconceptions within a world that is based in mystery and misdirection. Magic conjures-up our memories from childhood, our willingness to suspend our beliefs just for a moment, and perhaps build our knowledge and understanding.

Scientific Illusions

• A list of magic illusions that are grounded in science
• Great ice-breakers to introduce new topics
• Directly address student misconceptions
• National Standards addressed
• Misconceptions listed

Misconceptions Links

• A list of Internet resources to help you learn more about misconceptions

About the Author

• Contact Bradford Davey
• Download files
• Links to other pages
• Professional Development Ideas

Contribute

• Add your own favorite illusions
• Reflect on your experiences
• Add links, ideas, and thoughts

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