Mar 23 2025 14 mins 8
As the final month of winter approaches in the UK, we all feel the need for a little something to keep our spirits lifted; so Rosie and Thomas explore the awe and wonder of magic, with a science spin.
It was therefore a great pleasure to welcome special guest to the podcast , Matt Pritchard, from Science Magic Shows. His fabulous science shows are exactly the thing to enliven the school year and give students, and teachers, some new ideas about the fun of science.
Alongside all this fun Rosie and Thomas also ruminate on the past fortnight with a focus on an alternative method to standing waves on a string and our own favourite teaching magic tricks.
Links
- Science Magic Shows – Website by Matt Pritchard
- Sparking Wonder – A free resource of magic related demos for teachers to use in the classroom, created by Matt with the Ogden trust
- Other resources on awe and wonder – For further reading on the topic of awe and wonder, see Matt’s curated list of resources on his website.
- Core practical – standing waves – YouTube demo of the alternative method using AC, magnets and a wire.
- Table Cloth Trick
- Jumping soda can trick
Join in!
Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social . You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.
Music
- Season 7: Physics Is Our Business by Miracles of Modern Science.
- Seasons 5 and 6: Crescents by Ketsa.
- Seasons 3 and 4: Disco Sheik by Podington Bear.
- Seasons 1 and 2: One legged equilibrist polka by Circus Homunculus.
- Occasionally we also use Cantina Rag by Jackson F. Smith.
The music is used under the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License
