Play
corresponds to hypothesis and experiment
Trying things out without the pressure to succeed. Like a pencil sketch you are allowed to rub out again. In that pressure-free space, assumptions arise that can be put to the test.
A working model for schools, universities and organisations
Science and Magic: Play, Wonder, Understand
Conjuring is the only art form that produces wonder reliably, instantly and anywhere. That is precisely the moment in which the brain learns. I use it to make scientific thinking something people experience: in the classroom, in the lecture theatre, in the meeting room.
Play, wonder and understand for a better picture of the world.Scientia et Magia · Ludendo, mirando et inveniendo
The essentials at a glance
- Science and Magic (in German: Wissenschaft und Zauberkunst) uses magic tricks as controlled prediction errors: the trick breaks an assumption, wonder opens a window for learning, and the search for an explanation is science in its purest form.
- The three-step model Play, Wonder, Understand corresponds to hypothesis, falsification and model update. It is not explained; it is experienced first-hand.
- On offer are lectures, stage programmes, school workshops, teacher training and team seminars, from thirty minutes to a full day.
- Developed by Prof. Dr. Markus Pfeil, scientist and magician, on the basis of current cognitive and organisational research and his own accompanying studies.
What Science and Magic is about
Learning begins where the world turns out to be different from what we expected
Our brain is not a camera. It is a prediction machine that models, without pause, what is about to happen next. Most of the time the prediction is right, and we notice nothing. The real step in learning happens when it is not right: when an experience collides with our assumption. That gap between expectation and reality is what we call wonder.
A magician produces exactly that. He takes our assumptions about the world, often the very hard, physical ones, and appears to break them. A ball vanishes, a card transforms, a ring swings without the hand moving. This is not deception for its own sake but controlled irritation: a tool for loosening entrenched assumptions and training cognitive flexibility.
The wonder paradox explains why this is more than a charming opener: knowledge without wonder deepens polarisation. Knowledge acquired through wonder opens people up. The difference lies not in the content but in the emotional frame in which it is experienced.
“We do not teach participants about cognitive biases. We let them experience them in their own bodies.”Guiding philosophy of the format
“It is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.”Abraham Van Helsing, in Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897)
Wonder
corresponds to the prediction error
The moment when something turns out differently from what we thought. The brain does not defend; it learns. Hence the ten-second rule after every effect: stay silent before anyone explains anything.
Understand
corresponds to the model update
We adjust our picture of the world to what we have just experienced. Observation and explanation are separated, hypotheses are formed, tested, discarded. That is the fundamental movement of science.
Why magic, of all things
The “A” in STEAM that no other art form can replace
Science and Magic is a specific realisation of the STEAM idea: the arts belong in science. Conjuring is not used as just any art form, but because it combines five properties that music, theatre or the visual arts do not offer in this combination.
| Property of conjuring | Educational advantage |
|---|---|
| Perceptual contradiction | Produces an immediate prediction error that passive reception of art does not produce. |
| Active hypothesis formation | The audience searches reflexively for explanations. The scientific process runs as a spontaneous reaction. |
| Inherent STEM connection | Physics, mathematics and psychology are the foundations of the technique. Not an analogy but a direct link. |
| Scalability | A single trick is enough. No musical training, no studio, no special set-up required. |
| Social effect | Wonder is contagious and collective. It instantly creates a shared experiential ground in the room. |
Three crises, one answer
Never has so much knowledge been so readily available. And yet distrust of science is growing, interest in STEM careers is falling, and society is splitting apart. These crises arise not despite existing knowledge but alongside it. What is missing is an epistemic emotion: a relationship to reality that creates openness before defence mechanisms kick in.
I
Distrust of science
More factual knowledge does not reduce polarisation on contested topics; it increases it. Competence is deployed in defence of one’s own group.
II
Declining interest in STEM
Not a problem of competence but of motivation. What is missing is the lived experience that science is fascinating, contradictory and alive.
III
Affective polarisation
Cohesion comes not from shared knowledge but from shared experience: moments in which people wonder together and, together, do not know.
What I offer as an artist and a scientist
Formats
Every format follows the same three steps but with a different aim: for pupils it is the entry into scientific thinking, for teachers the workshop, for teams decision hygiene, and for everyone the wonder. All formats can be adapted in length and depth to the occasion. Formats are delivered in German or English.
Schools · Universities · Conferences
Lecture “How magic helps us learn”
A lecture with live demonstrations: what do a vanishing ball and an understanding of probability have in common? Three examples (weight and physics, games and probability, perception and expectation) show how wonder accelerates the learning cycle.
Effects include the Charpentier illusion, Wild Dice and Monty Hall, prediction errors live
Schools · Families · Public events
Stage programme “Stories of the Nature of Things”
Magic that tells stories: of Newton the alchemist, of the coin that is freely chosen and yet predetermined, of the ring that swings without the hand moving. A programme that entertains and, along the way, shows how we form our picture of the world.
Effects include the Newcomb cup game, The Magical Story, the ideomotor pendulum
Pupils from year 5 upwards
Lesson “Play, Wonder, Understand”
One trick, ten seconds of silence, then two columns on the board: “What I saw” and “My explanation”. The class learns to separate observation from hypothesis and connects the experience with the day’s learning content. As a guest format, or as a lesson teachers deliver themselves.
Transfer biology, history, mathematics, physics, languages: there is a transfer sentence for every subject
Adults · Professional development · University seminars
Impulse session “How we form a better picture of the world”
A controlled prediction error, then the question: “What did you just see, not think?” Participants name cognitive biases from their own working lives and formulate a concrete strategy for their next decision. With an accompanying booklet.
Topics confirmation bias, hindsight bias, anchoring, Bayesian thinking, pre-mortem
Teachers · Staff rooms · Teacher training
Practical workshop for teachers
Not performing tricks but staging learning content. Teachers analyse effects (deconstruction), assign them to subject and year group (contextualisation) and rewrite the script in the language of the subject (storytelling). Result: a five-minute teaching sequence of their own for every participant. Nobody needs to be able to do magic.
Included the four-phase script, an effect catalogue by subject, a booklet of effects requiring no prior skill
Teams · Leaders · Organisations
Seminar “Science and Magic for Teams”
Seven modules from opening to follow-up: perception versus reality, control and its illusion, pattern interrupt, choice architecture. The team experiences noise, anchoring and order effects in its own meetings and derives rules from them: estimate first, then talk. With anonymous card voting by camera.
Foundations psychological safety, decision hygiene, sensemaking, implementation intentions
Coming to the shop
Courses and material for self-study
The content of the formats is currently being turned into course material: the three-step model for self-study, the booklet “How we form a better picture of the world”, and the pupils’ booklet with effects that work with paper and a coin. Preview the shop →
Artist and scientist
Prof. Dr. Markus Pfeil
- University
- RWU Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences, Germany
- Project
- Wissenschaft & Zauberkunst, developed during a research sabbatical in 2026
- Co-authors
- Jan Becker (author of “WOW”) and Rainer Mees, for the team format
- m.o.pfeil@gmail.com
Two professions, one question
When I mention that I am both a magician and a scientist, I usually get a frown. Do the two go together? I believe they not only go together, they belong together. For most of their history, science and magic were the same activity, driven by the same engine: wonder at a world not yet understood, and the will to grasp it. Newton was an alchemist. The separation is younger than the telescope.
As a physicist and university lecturer, I am preoccupied with why knowledge alone does not carry. As a magician, I know how to create the moment in which a person is genuinely open. Science and Magic brings the two together: a format with an evidence-based framework, field-tested procedures, and its own accompanying studies that measure whether wonder really does produce better hypotheses.
The trick stays secret. The principle is disclosed. That very boundary, known as boundary work, is part of the method.
Frequently asked questions
Questions that come up after every event
What is Science and Magic?
A working model that uses conjuring as a tool for scientific thinking. A magic trick produces a prediction error, the resulting wonder opens a window for learning, and the search for an explanation that follows is science in its purest form. The three-step model is Play, Wonder, Understand.
Who are the formats for?
Schools from year 5 upwards, universities, teachers in professional development, teams and leaders in organisations, and families. The formats range from a 30-minute lesson through lectures and stage programmes to a full-day seminar.
Are the tricks explained?
The principle is disclosed; the method stays secret. The open question “How can that be?” keeps the learning window open. Whoever explains the trick straight away ends the experience before it can take effect. Where it makes educational sense, for instance in teacher training, the mechanism is worked out together.
Do I need to be able to do magic to use the format in class?
No. Teachers need one single, reliably mastered effect and the willingness to endure ten seconds of silence. The accompanying material includes effects that work with paper and a coin and require no particular manual skill.
Isn’t this manipulation?
The approach through wonder is effective and honest precisely when it serves shared insight rather than covert steering. That is why disclosure is part of the format: the mechanism is shared at the end, not exploited. With adults, the epistemic purpose is stated clearly beforehand.
What is the scientific basis of the approach?
Findings from cognitive science, behavioural economics and organisational psychology, among them predictive processing, epistemic emotions, awe and wonder, confirmation bias, noise and psychological safety. The foundation is an extensive, continually expanded training manual with its own accompanying studies. More on the background page.
Contact and enquiries
A moment of wonder for your school, your team, your event?
Drop me a short line about what you have in mind: the occasion, the audience, the approximate number of people and your preferred date. I will get back to you with a suggestion for the format that fits. Formats are available in German and English.
Prof. Dr. Markus Pfeil · m.o.pfeil@gmail.com
Phone: +49 1512 7575725