I tell them to show their magic trick to their friends in other classes, their family members, their neighbors, etc. Once we've all discovered how it works, I always give each student their own set of the cards so that they can practice it themselves (this will undoubtedly be their favorite part). If not, I keep giving "hints" until we're able to discover how it works as a class. yes/no response on card, I usually have one student who's able to figure it out. Because they've had time to create a chart that shows secret number vs. Once they've generated many wrong ideas, I give them the hint that the secret has something to do with the top lefthand corner number on each card.
This usually leads them to come up with lots of interesting ideas about how it works, though rarely is it the correct one. I don't give any "hints" at this time.Īfter some time, I direct students to create a chart that shows the expected yes/no card responses to each possible secret number starting with 1. I give each group a set of their own cards and let them struggle within their groups to re-create what I already showed them. Here's how I generally scaffold the activity, in case you're curious:
#Number magic trick how to
Plus, I find that students really get into it because they truly want to learn how to do it themselves. I love using this trick to get students thinking it makes quite a challenging small group discovery activity. There's the old saying that "magicians never tell." I'm more of the believer that magicians never tell without making their students struggle first. Getting students to figure out how it works:
How cool and simple is that trick? You can repeat it with your students again and again, but I guarantee that they will quickly want to learn how to do it themselves.
The sum that you just calculated is the student's secret number! Now's the fun part - blow the student away by sharing what his/her secret number is! It's much easier to remember a running total than to remember a bunch of different numbers.Ĩ. TIP: Keep a running total in your head as you move through the cards instead of waiting until the end to add them. You should have kept a mental note of the top lefthand corner numbers for all of the cards to which the student responded "yes." Add those numbers together. Repeat until you have asked the student for all 5 number cards.ħ. Show the student the next number card in the pile and do the same as you did before.Ħ. If the student says "yes," make a mental note of the number in the top lefthand corner of that card (it's either 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16).ĥ. Show the student the first number card in the pile and ask, "Is your number on this card?" Be sure that the student looks carefully before responding. Be sure that the student does not tell you what it is.Ĥ. Show your student the "Pick a Number Between 1 and 30" card and ask him/her to pick a number between 1 and 30. The order of the other 5 number cards does not matter.ģ.
Place all 6 cards face-up in a pile and put the "Pick a Number Between 1 and 30" card on top. Print out the Magic Math cards page and cut out each of the cards individually.Ģ.
#Number magic trick pdf
Click here to download a free PDF of the Magic Math cards.
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