Students learn magic through science

Science magician Jeff Evans gets Brouillett Elementary students excited about learning

Chris Albert

Science Magician Jeff Evans taught more than 600 Brouillett Elementary school students at a Feb. 7 school assembly that the wonders of magic can be explained through the knowledge of science.

“All these magic tricks can be explained by science,” Evans told the eager students.

Evans has been performing his routine for about seven years, but magic started as a hobby for him when he was 12 years old.

“I love science too and a lot of magic is science,” he said.

Evans used magic to explain science concepts like matter, density, the center of mass, energy and force. With each magic trick there was a scientific explanation.

When explaining density Evans took a small ball barring that was very dense and heavy and compared it to a large ball barring. He asked the students which one they thought was heavier. The students responded, the large ball.

It might look like that, but really the small ball barring is actually heavier, Evans said. The large ball barring was hollow, less dense and there for much lighter.

“Sometimes magic will use how things look to play tricks on you,” he said.

By using scientific principles, it’s easy to play a trick on the mind. Things aren’t always how they appear, he said.

“It was amazing,” said fifth-grader Foster Barragan.

The presentation is way to get students excited about learning, said first grade teacher Tadina Kirkendall. Science is a hands on subject that gets students minds going.

“It’s the philosophy of getting them involved,” Kirkendall said. “They loved it.”

In the coming weeks, throughout the district schools will be holding their science fairs. Brouillett will be holding its in the beginning of March.

The school usually gets about 300 students participating in the event, said fifth-grade teacher Marge Salmon, who is also the science fair coordinator.

“It’s such a wonderful experience for the child participating,” she said. “Kid’s are naturally curious and science satisfies some of that curiosity.”

Evan’s presentation was a great way to stoke that curiosity, Salmon said. And every student from first to sixth grade gets something else out of it.

She was amazed by how many scientific principles he covered in a 45 minute presentation.

What they spend months teaching he covers in five minutes, Salmon said.

“He does it so easily and quickly,” she said. “It’s really great.”

Before leaving, Evans told students if they want to learn how to do these tricks they should go to their library, because there are many books that teach how science experiments are really magic tricks in the making.