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""One of the things I learned about the world of art," Teller says, "is there are people who really want to believe in magic, that artists are supernatural beings-there was some guy who could walk up and do that. But art is work like anything else-concentration, physical pain. Part of the subject of this movie is that a great work of art should seem to have magically sprung like a miracle on the wall. But to get that miracle is an enormous, aggravating pain." To see Vermeer as "a god" makes him "a discouraging bore," Teller went on. But if you think of him as a genius artist and an inventor, he becomes a hero: "Now he can inspire." "

"In short, says Stahl, "[infants] take surprising events as special opportunities to learn." This theory, that we're born knowing certain rules of the world, isn't new. We see evidence of it not only in humans but in lots of others species, too. What's new is this idea: that core knowledge seems to motivate babies to explore things that break those rules and, ultimately, to learn new things."

""When you can call a line of code a spell, then you are getting somewhere," Fruchter said. After all, isn't computer code basically modern magic?"

The assignment: Choose a word. Write it in capital letters. Find 4 synonyms. Write those in a second line. (Pick the easiest word to rhyme for your last word.) Then write a phrase that ends with a rhyming word. As a class, we wrote this poem.

MAGICAL
Imaginary, mythical, enchanting, spellbinding
Potions of my mind unwinding.
-Mrs. Simon's Caneview class

"Grading will be based on attendance, enthusiastic participation in class discussion, respectful project critiques of fellow students, and clear and detailed documentation of projects (30%). Participation includes speaking during class, being attentive and engaged, as well as commenting and critiquing online materials at the class website. The first 2 projects will be each worth 15%, and the final project will be worth 40% (including documentation). Each unexcused absence will result in a loss of 10% of total points. Each failure to do the assigned readings will result in a 5% loss of total points. Projects may be done alone or in collaboration. Collaborations must document the full extent of each participant's contribution and equal effort is expected per collaborator. The final project may build on one of the previous two. "

In the vein of Bret Victor's Explorable Explanations, this site uses several interactive visualizations to explain complex topics

Great example. He even references Victor's Magic Ink essay http://worrydream.com/#!/MagicInk