Perform this cunning trick every day for a week and your students will believe you
... Note: This is a classic 'mind reading' trick so some students may already ...
Teacher Demonstration 23
Mind Reader! Materials: • Paper (small rectangles)
• Pens
• Two glass jars
Instructions This demonstration is great for a critical thinking unit on psychics and the paranormal. Perform this cunning trick every day for a week and your students will believe you really can read their minds. The more questions you ask, the more amazed your students will be. Reveal the secret at the end of the week as a reward for improved behaviour, courtesy or completion of set tasks. Note: This is a classic ‘mind reading’ trick so some students may already know the secret. Ask them to quietly describe the method to you and if correct, ask them to keep it a secret at this stage!
1 Introduce the demonstration with a fanciful story eg: y like all teachers, you learned how to read student’s minds at university y you bumped your head on a kitchen cupboard door last night and suddenly, you can ‘see’ what people are thinking
2 Ask a volunteer write down a boy’s name on a piece of paper, then screw it up and place it in the jar. Pretend to read the students mind for a moment. Then write your guess for the final question which you will ask in step 5 (e.g. hearts, carrot, apple, red, or Saturday). Fold or scrunch your answer and put it in your jar. 3. With your ‘answer’ safely in the jar, ask the student to reveal the name they wrote and put in the jar… remember this name! Ask a second volunteer to write down a girl’s name, screw up the paper and put it in the jar. Pretend to read their mind, then write down the answer to the previous question (i.e. the boy’s name they just told you). Scrunch up your answer and put it in your jar. 4. Ask the student to reveal the girl’s name they put in the jar. Again, remember this name! Repeat the procedure as many times as you like or time permits, asking questions such as: what is your favourite snack / toy / film / television show / drink?
Teacher Demo 23 – Mind Reading | Page 1 © 2008 Ruben Meerman | ABC Science Online
5. The last question is the one you ‘guessed’ first. While this is the only question you can get wrong, improving your chances of getting it right is easy – see the Teacher’s Notes below for some hints. If you guessed it wrong, make an excuse while ‘attempting’ this last answer e.g.:
“dear me, there are a lot of very loud thinkers in this room… could you please keep it down?” 6. Ask the students how many answers you got correct. Give your jar a subtle shake to mix up the answers, then ask two volunteers to open the answers without speaking. Ask them to read out and hold up the answers in the order the questions were asked starting with the boys name. Amazing… you got it right! Next, the girl’s name… bingo! Then the favourite snack etc. Bingo! Bingo! Bingo!
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7. If you did get the final question wrong, elaborate on your earlier excuse eg: “Well you were all just so excited I just couldn’t hear myself think… who was thinking clubs? You’re all very loud thinkers! And who was that thinking ‘I want to have a turn’?”
Teacher notes Questions with few or predictable answers: Card suit (hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs) Australian flag colour (red, blue, white) favourite weekday* (likely answers: Saturday or Sunday) vegetable (likely answers: carrots, peas, broccoli) fruit (likely answers: apple, banana, orange, mandarin) Australian animal (likely answers: kangaroo, possum, koala) favourite colour (pick a student you know well for this) Improving your chances: Deciding which student you will choose for this question beforehand can greatly improve your chances of getting it right. For example, ask a student who plays sport on weekends what their favourite weekday is and the answer is likely to be Saturday. Ask a student you know well their favourite colour.
Teacher Demo 23 – Mind Reading | Page 2 © 2008 Ruben Meerman | ABC Science Online
