Sonobe Origami Polyhedra – Links
Instructions for Making Origami Polyhedra
Instructions for Making Other Origami Figures
Mathematics in Origami
Using Origami to Teach Standard Mathematics Topics
Origami as a Field of Mathematics
Applications of Mathematical Origami
History of the Sonobe Module
Using Origami to Teach Math
-
On-Line Lesson Plans
Ideas for Using Origami to Teach Mathematics
Benefits of Origami in the Classroom
Books and Other Resources for Teachers
- Daniel Meyer and Jeanine Meyer have a beautiful and extensive web page on using origami to teach mathematics. They include theoretical discussion of educational uses of origami, general strategies for teaching origami and tying it to mathematics, and many origami folding instructions and lesson plans.
- Bill Wagner has a lesson plan that uses simple paper folding to develop concepts relating to fractions.
- Dave Love and Bill Haneberg created a lesson plan that brings geometry, origami, and geology together. They give instructions for creating paper tetrahedra from envelopes, geology themed templates, and assembly instructions for making a neat kaleidocycle. If you don't want to use a geology theme, you might let the students color their own kaleidocycle designs using the template shape.
Ideas for Using Origami to Teach Mathematics
- Juergen Koeller has a web page with lots of fun math activities. One of these shows how to make an origami cube and then gives a mathematical discussion about the ratio of the side of the final cube to the length of the side of the original square. This is then compared with another way of getting a cube out of a square and with a theoretical limit. Developing this line of thinking could result in a nice math lesson.
- Eric M. Anderson has an extensive origami web page that includes a discussion on using origami to teach math. This page mentions many specific math concepts that come up in origami, and gives lots of leads for designing your own lesson plan or class project. He gives examples of mathematical origami questions in geometry, topology, and combinatorics. These questions do not require mathematical background, but they do require students who are tenacious problem solvers.
- Origami USA has some helpful tips for teaching origami.
Benefits of Origami in the Classroom
- Karen Bass writes about her experiences using origami to teach sixth grade math.
- Emma Craib, an elementary art teacher, talks about intrinsic benefits of learning origami outside the context of a formal math lesson. She also includes some folding instructions.
Books and Other Resources for Teachers
- Tom Hull has written a wonderful book of mathematical origami lessons called Project Origami. Although the lessons are designed for college students, many of the activities work well for younger students as well. Tom Hull also has a great video series online on Education with Origami.
