Resources by Queen Mary University of London

The 21 Card Trick

The book "The Magic of Computer Science" contains a variety of tricks that relate to various elements of computer science.

In this resource, the algorithm...

The Baffling Knot Trick

In this magic trick, a volunteer has two ropes tied around them. When the ropes are pulled tight they cut right through the volunteer, who then walks away unharmed. The trick uses rare earth magnets to make it appear as though the rope is knotted.

The Complete Illusioneering Magic Book

This book provides a range of easy-to-do magic tricks based on Chemistry, Physics, Engineering and Mathematics.

The video features Richard Garriott on Science and Magic and shows how the properties of ferofluid can exploited to create a magic trick.

The Cutting a Person in Half Trick

In the video Matt Parker presents the laziest cutting a person in half trick using a strip of paper. The strip of paper is used to create a Mobiüs loop which is then cut in half lengthways with surprising results. The ‘trick’ is then explained by exploring the properties of the Mobiüs loop. As a finalé Matt cuts...

The Disappearing Coin Trick

In this magic trick you take a coin and place it under a clear, empty drinking glass. The spectators can still see the coin clearly through the glass. Then you slowly pour normal water into the glass and as it fills up, the coin vanishes.

Curriculum links include light, refraction, total internal...

The Emotion Machine

By creating their own paper ‘robot face’, students learn about how high-level language is translated into low-level machine instructions. The resource, created by Paul Curzon and Peter McOwan of the CS4FN team, covers sequencing in programs, compilers and interpreters. A detailed instruction sheet guides the...

The Four Aces

This magic trick from the Computer Science for Fun team at QMUL shows that computing is about more than just programming and computational thinking is about more than just algorithms.

A simple mathematical approach is taken with dealt piles of cards – this allows the dealer to control the whereabouts of the...

The Golden Curve

This resource, from the Maths Careers website, explores decimal numbers, predicting terms of a sequence and geometrical pictures and was produced in conjunction by More Maths Grads and the Queen Mary University of London.

The activity invites students find the maths hidden in everyday images, before...

The Imp Computer

This unplugged activity from the CS4FN team uses two examples – an insulting computer and one that can play snap – to look at simple computer programming, flow of control and logic. Everything is provided for this front-of-class activity, which would act as an effective starter for a lesson on programming concepts...

The Intelligent Piece of Paper

In this activity from the CS4FN team, learners are introduced to algorithms in the context of artificial intelligence. They are challenged to beat a ‘piece of paper’ at a game of noughts and crosses. By following a simple algorithm, the piece of paper becomes very difficult to beat. The algorithm is a sequence of...