Practical Magic

Rainbows, fireflies, shooting stars… sometimes nature is so wonderful that it feels like pure magic.

With your class, choose a natural phenomenon that seems so mysterious it could seemingly only be explained via magic, and then use science to discover how it works! Some ideas for your class to study are bioluminescence, a caterpillar turning into a butterfly or a volcano erupting.

Once you’ve chosen, start by observing the phenomenon that your class has chosen. This may be through a video online or, if possible, take a field trip to go see the magic in real life!

Ask each student to create their own unique hypothesis, or testable prediction, about how the “magical” thing takes place. Invite students to individually share out their hypotheses, keeping track of all your class’s different ideas. Afterwards, conduct research as a class to understand the scientific explanation for nature’s magic.

To culminate, present a research seminar to another class that explains how your chosen mystery works and walk the class through all of your predictions and scientific processes. Then, onto the next mystery!