"Whenever education and entertainment are brought together under the same roof, education will be the loser." Michael Shortland

I'm an informal educator and my PhD research is exploring how science teachers can emotionally engage pupils in the classroom using some of the performance techniques of professional performers.

One of the problems of trying to combine educational messages with entertainment in any media is that the audience will tend to focus on the entertainment (emotional engagement) at the expense of the educational content. Researchers sometimes call these task-irrelevant engagement techniques "seductive details", and have shown that although they can change attitudes towards a subject, they usually reduce the recall and understanding of the content. Yet a performer working outside a classroom without using such techniques may struggle to hook and hold the attention of the audience in the first place.

I'm interested in discussing how you overcome this problem in designing and presenting educational shows - how do you successfully combine entertainment and education?
Also, are you ever afraid that by using magic effects to "sweeten the pill" in your shows you are giving the message to children that the subject isn't interesting enough by itself?

Thanks for your help

Paul McCrory

PS Any replies to this thread that I quote in my research will only be referenced to an "online magic discussion forum" – particular individuals will not be named without their permission.

I write and perform educational school shows. A show is only 45 - 50 minutes. You do the best you can to give kids something to think about. I have replaid many schools and some kids repeat messages to me. Some don't care sure.

I certainly don't believe it goes as deep as the kids thinking "it's not interesting by itself." They don't analyze it like that. My opinion. But I have three kids 12,10 and 7 and I teach 1 - 5 graders.

John

If you are a performer your goal is to entertain and if you are an educator your goal is to educate. If you are wanting to get a message across fine and dandy but you then run into two types typically, the first is trying to put the message into everything and do so at the cost of entertainment, the second inserts the message where it fits and makes sense. At the end of the day it isn't the entertainers job to educate. The magician can be the reason people show up but to expect them to teach a lesson is the domain of a fool. Same thing applies to Gospel magic. The good Gospel magician will have a thin message in his show but it is the minister or who ever represents the church that needs to get the specific points across. This, of course, really ticks off bad Gospel magicians. The "reading is good" magician might do a couple things with books and have the lil' kids say "reading is good!" but it isn't the job of the magician to teach the children to read. This, of course, really ticks off bad theme magicians.

I do a reading themed show and my job is to entertain the kids and encourage them to check out books on the topic I discuss in my show. I use lots of strange animals (snakes, spiders, etc.) and the kids do go and check out the books from their media center afterwards. This is from comments from media specialists after the performance observing over the next several days.

One show I did at a middle school last week is another example. The media specialist said that all 8 books on the subject were checked out by the next morning and that 5 of them were on reserve for more students. Along with that, 6 books on other authors were also checked out. This is what my show does - it gives some interesting facts and routines and then hopefully makes some of the students want to go and check out the story/subject for themselves.

That is my goals for my performance in schools.

Chad

Whenever I have seen an historical movie that moved me I will almost always read and study on what really happened to those people at that time. The film of course was always fictionalized and simlified in service of the drama and with artisic license, but the emotional impact of the film makes me want to learn more.

Jim

Excellent thread, many programs I have seen are favored by staff, but may not impact the students. To find "two mints in one" is a treasure.


Harris

There you go! This is how it works for kids too!

John

A science teacher has a different objective than the educational/entertainer who presents a 45 minute program. A program is a "one shot" event and can best hope to stimulate interest. At most, three or four concepts can be introduced and explained in a cursory fashion. But the tempo of a program has to be upbeat and moving. You can't bog down in the details or the entertainment fades quickly.

A science teacher can use some of the techniques of an entertainer, but will need to do so much more sparingly. You want to keep the students focused. Sometimes that means telling a joke (or saying something humorous) to grab that attention and bring it back to the task at hand.

An appropriate demonstration of a scientific principle can be very effective for focusing attention while at the same time presenting a real-world application for that principle. eg. "you add a tablespoon of baking powder to the the glass of vinegar and..." The result is fun to watch and it demonstrates a scientific principle which the student is then more interested in.

Perhaps what you are really looking for however, are principles of showmanship. Those include voice control, eye contact, body position, subtle gestures all designed to draw attention to something specific. Something as seemingly simple as voice inflection can make or break a presentation. And that is what the science teacher is doing every day.

How does he or she appear to the students? Physically, does the teacher have a "presence" at the front of the class? Does he or she look the part? These are probably more important questions to look at. You may wish to think more in terms of the theater and what makes a compelling actor.

Quite honestly, the best teachers I ever had were those who were excited about the subject and conveyed their enthusiasm on a daily basis. I heard it in their voice. I saw it in their actions. I felt it by their presence. They compelled me to want to know more because I wanted to experience that enthusiasm too.

What is an 'informal educator'?

Thanks for the comments so far everyone.

Part of the difficulty with most of these debates is the baggage that each of us carry around in terms of what the concepts "education" and "entertainment" actually mean to us. It's not that one defintion is right and the other is wrong obviously, but these different invisible perspectives complicate the discussion.

So I thought I'd clarify what I mean by "education". Whenever you have any experience (eg in the classroom; in a museum; in the playground; watching a magic show) it can lead to all sorts of diverse learning outcomes - many of which have been brought up in this thread already.

This is a model I developed to try to capture these different types of learning outcomes in a different context based on accepted psychological domains:
1) learning facts and skills (cognitive)
2) engaging emotions and changing attitudes (affective)
3) motivating and empowering people to want find out more or follow-up their interest(conative)
4) changing the way people behave eg recycling more after a show about waste (behavioural)
5) relating to others and having a shared experience (social).

Like all theories in science/social science - I'm not pretending that this actually represents the reality of all of the complex interactions we human beings can have, but rather it offers a simplified model to provoke thought and allow educators to reflect on where their experiences fit in or conflict with the model.
Also perhaps this wide range of outcomes might help next time someone questions the educational value of your shows - "yes, but what are they really learning?"

By a suspicious coincidence the formal education community conveniently accepts the only easily measurable outcome domain - cognitive learning - as the only important one. Because teachers are driven by a curriculum and having to "teach to the test" they naturally focus on this type of learning outcome. This is absolutely not to say learning facts and skills is not important (or rewarding in itself), but rather that it is not the only important educational outcome.

Anyone who does educational shows knows the value of the other outcomes that we can't easy measure. I love my job. I get to present interactive science shows to thousands of children every year. Like most of the performers on this list I can relate powerful stories of the difference I know our shows have made with some children who have seen them, and these outcomes will neever be revealed by a test.
Sadly, in education the measurable has become important, rather than the important becoming measurable.

One of my science communication colleagues in the UK, as usual, puts it better than all of the above verbiage:

"Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
Awaken curiosity and they feed their own minds for a lifetime."
Ian Russell, UK science communicator

I'll post later some thoughts I have about how entertainment and education can co-exist.

Paul

Posted: Jan 14, 2008 3:11pm
Sorry magicsanta, what I meant by an "informal educator" is anyone who works in an informal education context such as a museum; wildlife centre; outreach organization that offers programs in schools; educational television; etc
Basically any environment in which the audience may have some expectation of learning that has a strong element of free-choice and which is not assessed.
In contrast to formal education (schools, colleges and universities) where attendance is compulsory and learning is usually assessed.

When asked what I do at a party though I normally say "I go out to schools and blow stuff up!" I try to communicate the wonder and excitement of science and engineering to students and the public. If you're interested you can find out more at our web site: http://www.think-differently.co.uk

Paul

Sorry magicsanta, what I meant by an "informal educator" is anyone who works in an informal education context such as a museum; wildlife centre; outreach organisation that offers programmes in schools; educational television; etc
Basically any environment in which the audience may have some expectation of learning that has a strong element of free-choice and which is not assessed.
In contrast to formal education (schools, colleges and universities) where attendance is compulsory and learning is usually assessed.

When asked what I do at a party though I normally say "I go out to schools and blow stuff up!" I try to communicate the wonder and excitement of science and engineering to students and the public. If you're interested you can find out more at our web site: http://www.think-differently.co.uk

Paul

http://www.madscience.org/

This may be of interest.

Thank you for clearing it up... education in a non traditional setting....

It's funny you should bring up that link, Tom, as Paul and I have a mutual professional acquaintance in the Head Scientist for the Northern Ireland franchise of madscience.

Thanks Scott for your thoughts. I completely agree with everything you're saying.

The research is trying to develop a tool kit of strategies that includes both of these types of engagement techniques:
1) the showmanship and acting skills that I believe the most engaging teachers employ constantly in their classes; and
2) the other "bits of business" and specific engagement techniques that professional performers use that teachers can use occasionally eg telling stories; humour; "look but don't see"; and of course the most powerful emotional engagement technique of all ....

Paul

My wife is a retired kindergarten teacher and I would watch her work and I was surprised how many methods she used to get the attention of the kids that are used in kids show magic. She will put on a funny hat (borrow a kids hat and wear it), say things wrong so the kids will correct her (which is a very good way for kids to learn), and be silly yet still an authority figure. I have her review scripts to see what kids will find interesting and always was amazed by her ability to watch a kids performer and break down what worked and what didn't.

So you are correct in what the research said. She never really thought much about it but just found what worked and used it over 20 years but she educated and kept those buggers entertained and interested five days a week, six hours a day.

There is a great book called something like Teaching as Performing...

"It's two mints in one."


Harris..."I do think we are in Kansas!" Deutsch

Thanks Harris. For such an obvious topic (applying performance techniques to the teaching context) there are surprisingly few books available.

For any educational performers who are interested, the main ones I have been able to track down are:
1) "Teaching as performing", Timpson and Tobin, 1982;
2) "Acting lessons for teachers", Tauber and Mester, 1994;
3) "Showmanship for presenters", Arch, 1995;
4) "The stand-up trainer", Dowling, 2000;
5) "Show biz training", Millblower, 2003.

I can recommend them all. They are full of insights for any educational performer - or performer for that matter.

Paul

According to Mickey's 9th commandment:

"For every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of fun"
(Mickey's ten commandments -www.themedattraction.com/mickeys10commandments.htm)

One of the issues that I'm interested in is the education/entertainment mindset of educational performers - which of two perspectives below do they use to view their shows?

1) the OR model - they imagine entertainment and education at opposite ends of a spectrum and use extrinsic entertainment techniques to engage their audiences with the educational messages to "sweeten the pill". Throughout their show they move back and forth across the spectrum to maintain an overall balance.

2) the AND model - they imagine entertainment and education as the two axes of a graph. They aim for the top, right-hand corner of the graph - trying to create experiences that are entertaining (ie emotionally engaging) and educational at the same time. They do not see that these values are in conflict; in fact they believe that some of our deepest thinking happens when we have "hard fun". These are experiences when we are challenged and lose ourselves completely in a task intrinsic to the educational messages. We want to complete the task for its own sake rather than for an external reward eg solve the mystery/ master the skill/ etc.

I believe that being aware of these mindsets is important because they influence every decision a performer makes when he/she develops and performs an educational show.

Paul

Remembering use of different learning styles of students...

Hearing, Seeing and Tactile..activity...

Discipline is of course also important...I have seen a few, very creative teachers come and go very quickly in our schools because they lacked it.

Harris