Interest-Led Study: Origami and Math


One of my older students has been enjoying teaching one of the younger ones 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)


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.

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