Students at Highlands Elementary School got a visit from a wizard last week.
But this wizard wasn’t trying to show off his power of illusion. David Hagerman wanted the students to learn that magic is science, and science is magic.
“They’re both the same,” Hagerman said.
Hagerman performed his Extreme Science 2.0 assembly at both Highlands Elementary and James Foster Elementary, with a goal of inspiring young students to consider a future in math and science. Hagerman and his assistant, Abbie Honore, are touring schools across the West Coast from Southern California to Washington, and then across the country after that.
A lover of magic and entertaining from an early age, Hagerman said when he took a closer look at what magicians were really doing, it was simply hidden science.
“Whenever we started doing science in class and I’d see my teachers doing some of the same things that I was entertaining with, it just made me want to study science,” Hagerman said. “So, I just combined the two. I found my passion is for entertainment and science.”
To show off his skills, Hagerman called on a number of students to volunteer in a variety of experiments. One had students touching a metal orb filled with electricity, with some students shaking their hair to show how the electricity causes hair to frizz.
Another had two students hold onto a rope as Hagerman rolled back on roller blades. Upon their release, Hagerman would go flying across the multi-purpose room, showing the power of one object’s motion causing another to object to move.
A crowd favorite was when Hagerman had three eggs sitting on a tray, with three cups of water below the tray. Before attempting to remove the tray to have the eggs fall into the water without touching them, many of the students were in disbelief that he could do it.
And yet he did, flicking the wooden end of a broomstick fast enough for the tray to be removed and the eggs to remain in their position before gently falling into the water, without breaking.
Hagerman’s hope was that the students would understand that these experiments were once performed by magicians, but are now looked at much more closely by scientists.
“Real wizards never had magical powers,” Hagerman said. “The real wizards that walked this Earth 500 to thousands of years ago, they were all using science. They weren’t fooling people, but they wouldn’t tell people that what they were doing was science; they didn’t have the word ‘science.’ But nowadays, astrologers became astronomers, natural philosophers became physicists, alchemists became chemists, and these were all those wizardry practices that became legit sciences.”
This is the second year Hagerman has brought his show to Highlands Elementary and the 28th year that he’s been performing science shows for children. He gained national fame in 2021 when he appeared on the 21stseason of “America’s Got Talent.”
Noelle Efflandt, vice president of the Highlands Parent Faculty Organization, said the students loved seeing Hagerman last year, so the PFO made it a priority to have him come back. She said there has been an increased attendance rate for these types of assemblies.
“When we have this kind of stuff, the kids want to come to school so that attendance overall goes up,” Efflandt said. “And then I could say, from a mom’s personal experience, my kids were just so happy when I picked them up from school.”
The assembly isn’t just for fun, either, as test scores at schools that Hagerman visits increase noticeably, according to a news release.
“(The students) all have their own passions that they want to do,” Hagerman said. “But if I can let them see what science is like and show it in an entertaining manner, it’ll get them to want to study it more for their teachers. So, I’m just trying to help the teachers out.”
To learn more about Hagerman and his show, visit schoolscienceassemblies.com.
