For the activity I tried the Miura-Ori origami folding technique. I struggled a bit with the first instructional video because the presenter’s hands were often out of frame, so it was hard to see exactly what was happening. I also think the paper I was using may have been a bit too stiff. The second video was much easier to follow, and once I switched to that one the folding worked out much better.
I also really enjoyed the video on Uyen Nguyen and her origami fashion designs. I have recently started sewing again, so seeing how she incorporates origami structures into clothing was really inspiring. I would love to experiment with that idea someday.
Interestingly, I also happened to do an origami activity with a Grade 4 class I visited this week. We made origami basketball nets, and then students rolled small basketballs out of paper and took 20 shots from different distances. Afterward, they calculated their shooting percentages and created bar graphs to represent their results. One thing I noticed was that a number of students struggled with the folding and with following the step-by-step directions. It reminded me how complex spatial reasoning and procedural thinking can be for students at that age. At the same time, I could see how activities like origami could be very useful in the classroom—not only for connecting to mathematics, but also for developing perseverance, spatial thinking, and the ability to follow and interpret sequences of instructions.
Graphing shot percentages works so nicely! I used it before for linear relationships, even though it is not exactly linear it is close enough for Grade 9 or 10 students. I used plastic cups, but I really love the addition of an origami hoop. This makes the activity so accessible, doesn't require set-up or collecting materials other than perhaps some scrap paper.
ReplyDeleteI also found your reflection on the value of using origami, even though it was not the focus of the lesson. In addition to the embodied activity, there was also other ways for students to experience mathematical thinking through spatial reasoning and applying an algorithm. Sometimes the mathematical skills can be implicit yet still powerful experiences.
I should have posted the website I used for the origami basketball idea: https://teachbesideme.com/origami-basketball-math-game/
DeleteHi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteIt’s great to see you tried the origami activity with your students!
“It reminded me how complex spatial reasoning and procedural thinking can be for students at that age.”
Thanks for bringing up this point, and I totally agree with you. I can still remember how I struggled with origami when I was in elementary school (and even now!). It is also interesting that I didn’t know how to lace my shoes until grade 6. I was very ashamed of that because I tried so hard to learn but I just couldn’t get it! However, after I shared this embarrassing story with my friends now, many of them recall that they also didn’t know how to lace shoes until grade 5 or 6. This really makes me wonder if it is hard for younger children to do spatial reasoning, as you mentioned. Lacing shoes indeed requires spatial reasoning, since you need to imagine how two laces combine and tie, which is similar to origami (also, surprisingly, all the people I knew who said they couldn't lace their shoes when they were young all claimed they were not good at origami). However, at the same time, I'm a big fan of LEGO. I never feel challenged in building LEGOs, and I'm really into it. This also makes me wonder what the differences are between LEGO and origami. Why are people good at one but not the other?
This may be really valuable information for teachers to know that some kids need a longer time and extra support in those activities, and we can’t simply assume everyone can get it for the first time. It’s okay to fail. It’s okay to re-try. It’s okay if you don’t get it now, and probably one day you will get it.
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated your reflection, especially your honesty about the initial struggle with the first video. That moment where the instructions aren’t quite visible really highlights how much we rely on clear modeling when learning something new, just like our students do. Your point about switching to a different video and finding success also speaks to perseverance and finding alternative pathways, which is such an important part of mathematical thinking.
I loved the connection you made to your Grade 4 lesson. The combination of origami, probability (shooting percentages), and data representation is such a rich, integrated task. Your observation about students struggling with both folding and following steps really stood out to me, it reminds us how complex spatial reasoning and procedural thinking actually are, even in tasks that seem simple on the surface.
This feels like a great example of how hands-on tasks can reveal students’ thinking in ways traditional tasks might not.