National Geographic Science ‘Magic’ kits

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m sure I’m way overthinking this, but I don’t particularly like combining science with magic.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Science Magic Kit - Perform 20 Unique Science Experiments as Magic Tricks, Includes Magic Wand and Over 50 Pieces, Great STEM Learning Science Kit for Boys and Girls https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0876F6STP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_DDXHSWEG2NS5854PZ8KQ

First thing that came to mind is way too many people that get all worked up over Harry Potter and magic=satanism or whatever.

But also, I think it’s important at an early age to tell kids that science isn’t magic. Science is real, magic is make believe. They should be separate. It’s fine to read fiction and magical worlds. Read Harry Potter, The Hobbit, or Chronicles of Narnia. But, those are fictional worlds

Science is real, and it’s important to emphasise that.

Anyway, that’s me overthinking something for the day. Opinions?

2

As a science teacher who runs an after-school magic club, I think you’re missing a key point: the definition of “magic” here.

It’s talking about stage magic, which is a weird performance form. It’s where you stand before an audience who knows you’re gonna lie and trick them, and then you do so, and they try to catch you, and the performance is only successful if they fail to catch you.

In other words, the performance is about figuring out how things work. Which is the core of science.

Now, it’s true that some audience members don’t try very hard to figure it out. Some folks don’t want to understand the trick; they want to lose themselves in the illusion. And that’s fine. But even they know that it’s an illusion. Nobody but the delusional leave a magic show thinking they just witnessed actual magic, any more than anyone reads Harry Potter and thinks it’s a biography.

For performers, though, it’s all about figuring things out. When I teach a trick, I first do my best to perform it successfully, to fool the kids into thinking they just witnessed a plausible, impossible event. Then I perform it again, but the second time, I show them how I’m doing it–and there’s the first moment of pure delight, as they realize what the trick is. Then I perform it step-by-step as they follow along, and the second moment of pure delight comes as they realize they can create this effect themselves using purely natural means.

Again, this is science. This is taking something marvelous and seemingly magical, and discovering the natural, mechanistic explanation for it, and then breaking that explanation down into discrete, replicable steps.

There’s no danger at all that the kids who get these kits will find themselves believing in magic. Quite the opposite.

3

Stage magicians have been deliberately using scientific principles in their acts since the 1800s. Hence, the cliche that it’s all done with mirrors.

4

One of my favorite books as a child was about science-based magic tricks. Of course it was about stage magic, as explained above.

Similarly, Martin Gardner wrote extensively on math-based magic tricks.

5

I agree with what’s been said here. Plus, some of us are old enough to remember when a beloved teacher of science got a new show* on Nickelodeon. His real name was Don Herbert. But, his stage name was Mr Wizard.

  • Some Dopers may be old enough to remember his original show. Not me.
6

In addition to what others have said, stage magicians have long been at the heart of the modern skeptical movement. James “The Amazing” Randi, for example, used his knowledge of stage magic to debunk fake psychics and faith healers, and promote rationalism and scientific inquiry.

Martin Gardner, mentioned a couple of posts upthread, was an amateur magician, an historian of stage magic, and a friend and correspondent of a number of professional magicians. He also was a core member of the modern skeptical movement, and used his extensive knowledge of stage magic in analyzing and debunking “frauds and fallacies in the name of science.”

In short, I think this is a very useful approach in exposing kids to what “magic” actually is.