Reasons Why Origami Improves Students’ Skills

posted in: Teaching Aids & Methods | 0

Origami, the ancient art of paper folding, has applications in the modern-day classroom for teaching geometry, thinking skills, fractions, problem-solving, and fun science.

What do pizza boxes, paper bags, and fancy napkins have in common? Well, you might have guessed it — origami.

This art form engages students and sneakily enhances their skills — including improved spatial perception and logical and sequential thinking.

An Art Form for All Subjects

Don’t believe me? Researchers have found a number of ways that origami can make lessons enticing while giving students the skills they need. Here are some ways that origami can be used in your classroom to improve a range of skills:

  1. Geometry

Origami has been found to strengthen an understanding of geometric concepts, formulas, and labels, making them come alive.  By labeling an origami structure with length, width, and height, students will learn key terms and ways to describe a shape. You can use origami to determine the area by applying a formula to a real-world structure.

  1. Thinking Skills

Origami excites other modalities of learning. It has been shown to improve spatial visualization skills using hands-on learning. Such skills allow children to comprehend, characterize, and construct their own vernacular for the world around them.

  1. Fractions

The concept of fractions is scary to lots of students. Folding paper can demonstrate the fractions in a tactile way. In your class, you can use origami to illustrate the concepts of one-half, one-third, or one-fourth by folding paper and asking how many folds students would need to make a certain shape. The act of folding the paper in half and in half again and so on can also be used to demonstrate the concept of infinity.

  1. Problem Solving

Often in assignments, there is one set answer and one way to get there. Origami provides children an opportunity to solve something that isn’t prescribed and gives them a chance to make friends with failure (i.e. trial and error). In your class, show a shape and ask students to come up with a way to make it. They may get the solution from various approaches. Remember, there is no wrong answer.

  1. Fun Science

Origami is a fun way to explain physics concepts. A thin piece of paper is not very strong, but if you fold it like an accordion it will be. (Look at the side of a cardboard box for proof.) Bridges are based on this concept. Also, origami is a fun way to explain molecules.

  1. No Papering Over Origami’s Benefits

Children love origami as evidenced by how they are enamoured with their first paper airplane, paper hat, or paper boat. And while we might not always think about it, origami surrounds us — from envelopes, paper fans, and shirt folds to brochures and fancy towels.

So no matter how you fold it, origami is a way to get children engaged in math, could improve their skills, and makes them appreciate the world around them more. When it comes to making lessons exciting, origami is above the fold.

 

Image Source: https://www.kidslovewhat.com/29-origami-crafts-to-keep-little-hands-busy/

Source: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-origami-improves-students-skills-ainissa-ramirez

 

(This article/text/quote/image is shared in good spirit to strengthen the education system.)

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