Cards and Pedagogy: Teaching with a Hook

In the first half of this session, participants will explore the lessons that magic offers about breaking the ice, capturing attention, sustaining engagement, and creating meaningful learning moments in the classroom. Through demonstrations and discussion, participants will consider concrete ways to incorporate these strategies into their own courses. The second-half presentation utilizes a hands-on card-sorting exercise to demonstrate that racial and other demographic categories are social constructions, not objective truths.   Participants will also use different card games to investigate how social hierarchy is a product of systemic "rules" rather than inherent physical traits.