I remember the first time I saw my colleague Paul do magic at a work event I was at. It was great fun anyway but he also linked some of the science of the tricks to the science behind the work that we were doing (medical device safety) and honestly my mind was just ever so slightly blown by that. 

He and our colleague Peter McOwan (who died in 2019) at QMUL used magic to talk about computing and maths topics as well as human-computer interaction, particularly in schools talks. One example is that a trick has a set of steps to be followed (a bit like a computer algorithm) and also a method of getting the audience to 'look over there' (a bit like the user experience). 

Paul's just published a book (co-written with Peter with additional material added after Peter's death) called Conjuring with Computation which is for sale, but almost all of Paul and Peter's magic-themed output via CS4FN (Computer Science For Fun) is completely free, and brilliant. 

There are lots of fascinating overlaps between magic and computational thinking, and lots of discussion about teaching computational thinking in schools. It has wide applicability (a way of approaching and solving tasks that can be useful beyond programming). 

This thought now keeps popping into my head: should magic be taught in schools? And if so what would the curriculum be...

I'm neither a teacher nor a magician but in line with my series of "Imaginary" posts here's what I have let my mind come up with while on longer bus journeys...

Magic Circle - 15th Century manuscript via Wikipedia

 

✨ Imaginary GCSE Magic ✨

Firstly it would be super interdisciplinary, linking to other different curricula including history, maths, chemistry and so on. See how we've sneaked computing into various other subjects in our 'Computing and...' interdisciplinary computational thinking page. Also I came up with an interdisciplinary game (Combining Careers) where you pick two topics and try and come up with a job that incorporates both - I think this was inspired by hearing about a Cow Historian on the TV programme Coast and learning about a Hairdressing Archaeologist who works out how complex hairdos of yore were actually put together.

Presentation skills 🖥
A bit of showmanship is quite handy when doing magic tricks, learning how to work with and respond to an audience, that sort of thing. Obviously a magician pretty much also has to lie to their audience so I might not want to take that too far with a classroom - but the audience know they're being led a merry dance at least.

The importance of practice
You can't just learn a trick and then do it, it needs repeated application and effort - a useful thing to learn.

Critical thinking skills, spotting pseudoscience
I remember reading or hearing James Randi say that the faces of 'psychics' would blench somewhat when they knew he was in the audience. The strategies of cold-reading and hot-reading can be (mis)used to give the impression of supernatural knowledge, or used to debunk nonsense. General 'logical thinking' skills, always useful.

History
You could really go to town on the history of magic (both as a form of entertainment as well as a deliberate deception). The history of women accused of witchcraft and how they were treated too 🧙‍♀️.

Botany and chemistry etc ⚗️
I think the Harry Potter-ish aspects of Herbology and Potions can definitely be included here. I like to think that either the text books or lab notebooks can be made to look a bit steampunk too, with lots of lovely drawings and doodles in the margins. Anyway the chemistry syllabus in its entirety is magic, converting one thing to another and emitting colourful light 🎨  and heat 🔥and useful products. Practicals would definitely include re-creating 'mauveine' from highly dangerous chemicals and making explosions 🧨 from metals in water etc. 

Poisonous and hallucinatory plant products would get an airing - I suspect my GCSE wouldn't pass health and safety checks. Plants are also inherently magical, turning light and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen.

Also the history of folk beliefs and superstitions, and plant-based cures for various ailments.

Psychology
Obvious things like 'how are we fooled?' and how to avoid getting duped (incredibly widely applicable!). I might also bring in things like sound design in TV/film/theatre and film scores and how they can augment what an audience is feeling

Physics
I don't really know much about quantum stuff but it sounds pretty magical, possibly that can be incorporated!

Drama / acting
I think it's pretty magical that a person on stage can say some words and affect the emotional state of the audience, even without fancy set design.

Film / CGI
Literally creating something from nothing through the medium of pixels. Miraculous.

Religion
The nature of believing something which may or may not be true.

Maths and magic
This is already pretty well mapped out (we have some books on Maths and magic^^) but thing like trigonometry, Fibonacci weirdness, solving problems, mathematical curiosities. Also Islamic and Celtic art and patterns follow maths structures and the result is pretty magical but I may be stretching the meaning somewhat :)

Music
A nice mix of physics, maths, acoustics and emotion. It's basically alchemy.

What would you have in your Imaginary GCSE Magic course?

 

Other imaginary notions

• Imaginary GCSE Magic (August 2023) - this post
• The Imaginary Paddington 2 science festival (March 2021)
• The Imaginary Maritime Science Festival - what would you have in your perfect science festival? (April 2017)
• Here's what I might put in an imaginary film / TV festival of weird British stuff (November 2013)

^Magic and medical devices
See page 50 (p26 of 29 page PDF) of the Insights from the CHI+MED project booklet, a project funded by the EPSRC.

^^Books on maths and magic
Maths made magic - with Peter Davison and Peter McOwan
The Manual of Mathematical Magic - Peter McOwan and Matt Parker