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Engaging with computer science through magic shows

Authors:

Peter W. McOwanAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE '08: Proceedings of the 13th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education

Pages 179 - 183

https://doi.org/10.1145/1384271.1384320

Published: 30 June 2008 Publication History

Abstract

We describe our experiences illustrating core concepts and enthusing children (age 11-17) about computer science through magic shows. We outline links between various tricks and computer science. The format of show we have trialed is to present real magic tricks with an underlying link to computer science. After each trick the audience is challenged to work out how it works. The mechanics are explained followed by the underlying computer science. Feedback with Talented and Gifted children has been exceptional. Informal feedback from younger children of varying ability has also been very positive.

References

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Adelson E.H., 2000 Lightness Perception and Lightness Illusions. In The New Cognitive Neurosciences, 2nd ed., M. Gazzaniga, ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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Bell, T., Fellows, M. and Witten, I. Computer Science Unplugged, http://csunplugged.com/index.php/error-detection.html

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Berlekamp, E.R., Conway, J.H. and Guy, R.K. 1982 Winning Ways for your mathematical plays, Volume 2: Games in particular, p669, Academic Press

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Colombini, A., 2003, 'The worlds Best collection of easy to do impromptu card magic', Morris Publishing, Kearney US.

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Corning, M., Way, T., Papalaskari, M-A. and Nadi, N., 2008 "Computer Science Workshops from the Villanova Magic School Science Camp." Poster presentation, to appear SIGCSE Technical Symposium (SIGCSE 2008), March.

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Curzon, P. 2007. Serious Fun in Computer Science. 12th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (Dundee, Scotland, June 2007), ITiCSE 2007, 261--265.

Digital Library

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Fulves, K. 1983 Self-working Number Magic Dover NY.

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Fulves, K. 2001 My Best Self-Working Card Tricks, Dover.

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Gardner, M. 1987. Mathematical Games, Scientific American, 238 No2 pp 19--32 (February 1987)

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Johnston, A, Benton, C and McOwan, P. W. 1999 Induced motion at texture-defined motion boundaries, Proc. Royal Soc. Lond. B 266, pp 2441--2450.

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Kruse, G., 2003. "Magic numbers approach to introducing binary number representation in CSO", ACM SIGCSE Bulletin 35(3), p.272.

Digital Library

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MagicTricksonline.com, The Best Online Magic Trick http://www.infodump.com/magic/cards/index.htm. Last accessed 18/1/2008.

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Morris, S.B. 1998. Magic Tricks, Card Shuffling and Dynamic Computer Memories, The Mathematical Association of America.

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Narzt, W, Pomberger, G. Ferscha A. et al, 2004 "A new Visualization Concept for Navigation Systems" User-Centered Interaction Paradigms for Universal Access in the Information Society, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 3196, 440--451, Springer.

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Papalaskari, M.A., et al. 2006, "PIVOTS: Service Learning at the Science, Theatre & Magic Boundary." 36th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 18--23.

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Penn and Teller, 1984, 'The Worlds Most Expensive Card Trick' http://www.metacafe.com/watch/153178/penn_teller/

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Simonson, S. and Holm, T., 2003. "Using a Card Trick to Teach Discrete Mathematics", Primus: Problems, Resources and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, v.13, 248--269.

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Spool J. 2007 Keynote Presentation. The 21st British HCI Group Annual Conference.

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Steinmeyer, J. 2005. Hiding the Elephant, Arrow Books.

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Way, T. 2007 Using Magic to Teach Computer Science. Workshop tutorial, SIGCSE Technical Symposium.

Cited By

Curzon PWaite JMaton K(2024)Teaching CS with and through other forms of knowledgeProceedings of the 19th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research10.1145/3677619.3678104(1-4)Online publication date: 16-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677619.3678104
Won MCarrington LEspinoza DAli MDasgupta DStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)A Cybersecurity Summer Camp for High School Students Using Autonomous R/C CarsProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630758(1435-1441)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630758
Moore PCappos J(2022)Cybersecurity shuffleJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/3533747.353375237:8(52-61)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3533747.3533752
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Engaging with computer science through magic shows
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education

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Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ITiCSE '08: Proceedings of the 13th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education

June 2008

394 pages

ISBN:9781605580784

DOI:10.1145/1384271

Conference Chairs:
June Amillo
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
,
Cary Laxer
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, USA
,
Program Chairs:
Ernestina Menasalvas
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
,
Alison Young
Unitec, New Zealand

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 40, Issue 3
ITiCSE '08
September 2008
362 pages
ISSN:0097-8418
DOI:10.1145/1597849
Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2008 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 30 June 2008

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ITiCSE '08

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ITiCSE '08: 13th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

June 30 - July 2, 2008

Madrid, Spain

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ITiCSE '08 Paper Acceptance Rate 60 of 150 submissions, 40%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

Curzon PWaite JMaton K(2024)Teaching CS with and through other forms of knowledgeProceedings of the 19th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research10.1145/3677619.3678104(1-4)Online publication date: 16-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677619.3678104
Won MCarrington LEspinoza DAli MDasgupta DStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)A Cybersecurity Summer Camp for High School Students Using Autonomous R/C CarsProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630758(1435-1441)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630758
Moore PCappos J(2022)Cybersecurity shuffleJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/3533747.353375237:8(52-61)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3533747.3533752
Moore PCappos JMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)Cybersecurity Shuffle: Using Card Magic to Introduce Cybersecurity ConceptsProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 210.1145/3478432.3499081(1090-1090)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478432.3499081
Wiseman RWatt C(2020)Conjuring cognition: a review of educational magic-based interventionsPeerJ10.7717/peerj.87478(e8747)Online publication date: 9-Mar-2020
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8747
Waite JCurzon PMarsh WSentance SHadwen-Bennett A(2018)Abstraction in action: K-5 teachers' uses of levels of abstraction, particularly the design level, in teaching programming.International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools10.21585/ijcses.v2i1.232:1(14-40)Online publication date: 31-Jan-2018
https://doi.org/10.21585/ijcses.v2i1.23
Greenberg RReed D(2018)Using Magic in Computing Education and Outreach2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE.2018.8658626(1-4)Online publication date: Oct-2018
https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2018.8658626
Bell TVahrenhold J(2018)CS Unplugged—How Is It Used, and Does It Work?Adventures Between Lower Bounds and Higher Altitudes10.1007/978-3-319-98355-4_29(497-521)Online publication date: 9-Aug-2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98355-4_29
Greenberg RDavoli RGoldweber MRößling GPolycarpou I(2017)Educational Magic Tricks Based on Error-Detection SchemesProceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3059009.3059034(170-175)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3059009.3059034
Garcia DGinat DAlphonce CTims JCaspersen MEdwards S(2016)Demystifying Computing with Magic, part IIIProceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education10.1145/2839509.2844679(158-159)Online publication date: 17-Feb-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2839509.2844679
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