Wonder in Magic - Probability – Magic Card Trick

This resource is a the second of a set of four lesson plans with STEM activities based around a group of 10-12 year olds, wanting to discover the science and maths behind magic. This session teaches PROBABILITY.

(Other sessions involve AIR PRESSURE, CHEMICAL REACTIONS, STATIC ELECTRICITY)

Wonder in Magic has been created as a teaching resource for the City of Edinburgh Council’s ‘Curiosity Club’, an Intervention Strategy initiative that is currently operating in Council schools. The focus of the four planned lessons of Wonder in Magic is to explain the ‘magic’ behind science and maths activities. This is the second resource and it focuses on probability, a magic card trick.

The first has an activity on air pressure. The third involves chemical reactions and the fourth static electricity. There is an optional activity (session 5) on showcasing the knowledge and skills obtained in Wonder in Magic. You can find all of these in our TES Shop for free download and re-use.

This bundle includes: extensive teacher notes bundle includes  PDF and editable versions of the following:

Probability – What’s the Chance?- contents for each lesson includes:

• Resource list
• Learning Intentions
• Shared success criteria
• Relevant Es&Os
• Assessment Methods
• Lesson Plan

General resources

• ‘Hook’ letter from the Head Teacher of Scotland’s Magic School
• Log-book (aka Book of Spells)
• Completion Certificate
• General Teaching Notes

Learning outcomes in the Curriculum for Excellence and associated benchmark

MNU 2-22a: I can conduct simple experiments involving chance and communicate my predictions and findings using the vocabulary of probability. (Uses the language of probability accurately to describe the likelihood of simple events occurring, for example equal chance; fifty-fifty; one in two, two in three)

LIT 2-07a: I can show my understanding of what I listen to or watch by responding to literal, inferential, evaluative and other types of questions, and by asking different kinds of questions of my own. (Asks and responds to a range of questions, including literal, inferential and evaluative questions, to demonstrate understanding of spoken texts.)

This resource was created as part of the GeoScience Outreach Course, which is a 4th year undergraduate course in the School of GeoSciences aiming to provide students with the opportunity to develop their own science communication and engagement project.

Author: Philippa Johnston, adapted by Kay Douglas and Charlie Farley.

Unless otherwise stated, all content is released under a CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.