Katie has been enjoying teaching James how to make origami creations. They became inspired by watching Between the Folds (on Netflix instant play).
The artistic value of origami was pretty instant and obvious to them, but once I became interested in their project, I was amazed and fascinated by all the mathematical concepts that could be taught along the way, in a very pleasurable and engaging way.
To get you started:
symmetry
angles
mirror images
area
congruence
volume
geometric terms: faces, edges and vertices.
Finding area and volume
Percentages (What % of the exterior surface is (a certain color)?
And once you have explored these topics, you might want to go a bit further...
Origami Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem
And a Little Further (Lesson Plans and Books)
- Origami Solutions: figures that will be useful for teaching geometry concepts, including reflections, rotations, and geometric solids.
- Symmetry Questions in a Wreath and Pinwheel
- The Geometry Junkyard
Books:
- Origami and Math: Simple to Complex, John Montroll
And, by the way, Katie is half-way through her project of folding 1000 paper cranes.
Way to go Katie! Fun Stuff!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing.
You always share such valuable information!
ReplyDeleteI'd never really thought about connecting those two, but it's such an obvious connection!
ReplyDeleteI've jumped off the living maths bandwagon for now....although this might very well make me jump right back on! So many great ideas!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had a wonderful time at the beach - and learning history too! I really enjoyed reading Grandmother Procter's story - what a lovely idea. And I'm going to check out that origami math TED talk - looks right up our street. Thanks, Phyllis! (Thinking of you with the radiotherapy xx)
ReplyDelete