In Your Classroom: "Origami Master"

by Brian McCombs     Department: In Your Classroom

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be awarded an Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholarship to travel to Japan to observe the Japanese school system, its classrooms, its buildings, its teachers, and its students.  I was able to see several elementary, middle school, high school, and even university students in their educational settings.  At the elementary building, I received a gift of 100 paper cranes, folded by the students of the school I was visiting.  This art of paper folding has been around for generations in Japan.  The students tried to teach me how to do several animal shapes.  I watched in awe as they manipulated a very small piece of two-dimensional paper, into a wonderful three-dimensional object.  I also attempted, usually in error, to create one myself.

I have never used origami in my mathematics classroom, however, I found several websites and ideas online of teachers who do.  It was created by Eric M. Anderson.  It is one of the most thorough website on origami I found.  The website contains diagrams, the history of origami, the connections between origami and mathematics, photos of his work, and hundreds of links to other sites, books, and math theories behind this wonderful art form.  The site is designed for math students and/or instructors at the high school and college levels.

A second site I found is one designed for the elementary students.  It was created by LearnNC, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education, and written by Cherl Hollada, Libby Morrison, Michelle Kaczynski and Susan Pope.  It is a detailed geometry lesson plan, aimed at students in grades three through five.  In the lesson, students will "produce an origami sculpture, use the appropriate vocabulary to describe the origami sculpture, and explain the sequence followed in its development.  They will also solve related math problems upon completion of the sculpture."  The lesson plan outlines student goals, pre-activities to be completed by the class, activities during the lesson, time requirements, materials list, and assessment ideas.  Based on the details given, and the thoroughness of the lesson, I would suggest finding this site and trying it out.

TeAch-nology is a great website containing 32 links to sites deals with interesting diagrams of origami.  Each of the links within this site are created specifically for teachers.  The complexity of the individual sites ranges from creating a simple swan, to another site that lists over 300 different diagrams and photos.  This site would be useful for an introduction, as well as a challenge for the students in your classroom that wishes to go above and beyond.  It can challenge them to create amazing things.

If you want to challenge your students to really think out of the box, check out the following articles which both describe uses of origami that go beyond just paper folding.  The first, "Origami Cell Phone Concept," is a prototype cell phone in which the screen actually folds out into a larger one through the concept of origami.  It was created by Bill Christensen of Technovelgy.com.  The second article, "Portable 'Halo,' and other 'Origami' concepts," demonstrates how the concepts behind origami have been used in creating the game "Halo."  They are amazing concepts that might just spur an idea out of one of your students.

A great video source for several hundred origami patterns, photos, and demonstrations can be found at Origami Video.

In introducing origami, I would suggest the children's book, Sadako, and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr.  It is a true story of a young Japanese girl who lived at the end of World War II.  Through her struggles and eventual death, she became a heroine to the entire country of Japan.  Today, there is a peace monument dedicated to her memory in Hiroshima.  It is a wonderful book to be enjoyed by children of all ages.

Additional WIRED Science Video Segments
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