Origamis Simples

[Ellington Walford]

Thereis a place for lecture and active listening in the classroom, but children tend to learn and remember more when they get to engage in hands-on lessons. Origami is a time-honored tradition in Japan, but you can also use this paper-folding activity in your classroom to reinforce concepts in math, engineering, physics, art, fine motor skills, problem-solving, and more. Your students might even learn a bit of history, since origami is much more than art in the Japanese culture! Here are ten ideas to get you started.

Since origami is the art of folding paper into shapes, it lends itself well to teaching and reinforcing geometric concepts. For early learners, students can practice folding paper into a variety of shapes. Older students can measure the sides of their origami creations and calculate area and perimeter.

Older students can discuss the different kinds of triangles as they fold. You can also introduce geometric vocabulary, such as equilateral and symmetrical. You can also make origami pencils and houses.

Another math concept with which origami can help is fractions. Even the youngest students can fold pieces of paper in halves, thirds, and fourths to see fractions in action. As students are able to see how many times they must fold a piece of paper to make a certain fraction, they will begin to grasp the principles of division behind fractions.

Introduce origami during this unit by encouraging your students to make a variety of origami animals. As your students fold paper to create their animals, you can discuss key ideas associated with animal groups, such as mammal fur, the cold-blood of reptiles, and how birds lay eggs.

Your students can use their creativity and brain power to complete a variety of tasks related to origami. Trial and error is a key skill students will need for a lifetime of recognizing and solving problems.

Start by having your students make different shapes simply by folding a piece of paper. Ask students to make a square, a triangle, a rectangle, or, more challenging, a circle, only by folding the paper. Have extra paper on hand for students who want or need to keep trying different folds to be successful. As your students fold the paper, they will be using their problem-solving skills and persistence to form each shape.

Origami has a rich cultural history. Going back to when paper was invented, origami has been an artistic, hands-on way for people to express themselves for centuries. In addition to teaching your students about the history of paper and Japanese culture, they can also try their hand at making any number of origami projects.

The ability to follow directions is a key skill for children of any age. Practice the directions skill with origami! Either provide step-by-step pictures of origami shapes or instruct the origami steps verbally to the class. As your students increase their skill in following directions, they will see how much easier it is to bring a project to completion.

Start simple with an origami project that can be completed in just a few steps. Read the directions one at a time and wait for students to complete each step before moving on. You may also provide a visual of each step, or rely solely on visual instructions. As your students improve in their ability to create an origami shape following your directions, gradually try more challenging creations with them. Students who get really into this may even attempt advanced origami as an extension activity.

One of the simplest things to make out of a piece of paper is a drinking cup. While there are several easy tutorials online, turn this into a great STEAM activity by asking your students to design and fold their own paper cup without instructions. Set your expectations, such as they are only allowed to use one piece of paper, can only fold the paper, and that the finished cup needs to hold water without leaking. Discuss different folds and have students brainstorm what a successful paper cup needs to have.

Your students will gain a great appreciation for certain styles of art by practicing origami. Since origami is an art form already, there are endless possibilities for incorporating a little paper folding into your art lessons.

Start with something simple like a pinwheel. Provide paper in a variety of colors or give your students white paper squares and let them decorate them with markers. Pinwheels are made with a few simple folds and can be attached to straws when completed. They make a great art project for decorating an outdoor space at your school!

Folding paper can help center a child and calm them down. Origami requires concentration, enabling focus on the task while other worries and concerns take a backseat. Creating can also raise self-esteem and mood. Placing a few origami papers in your calm down corner is a great way to incorporate mindfulness into your classroom.

A calm corner is a place students can go when they need to take a break or calm down. When you introduce the calm corner, have a conversation with your students about what is appropriate and acceptable when using the calm corner.

Show the kids some different things they can do while in the calm corner, including simple origami. Provide squares of colored paper and some printouts that show simple origami shapes. You might even make a few of the projects to display in your calm corner. Demonstrate a few easy folds and show students how to try it out on their own.

In addition to teaching a wealth of important skills, origami is something different to bring into your classroom. Keeping your students interested and engaged is an essential part of education, and origami has the potential to do just that!

What if you could make any object out of a flat sheet of paper? That future is on the horizon thanks to new research by L. Mahadevan, the Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Physics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). He is also a core faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and member of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, at Harvard University.

Mahadevan and his team have characterized a fundamental origami fold, or tessellation, that could be used as a building block to create almost any three-dimensional shape, from nanostructures to buildings. The research is published in Nature Materials.

The folding pattern, known as the Miura-ori, is a periodic way to tile the plane using the simplest mountain-valley fold in origami. It was used as a decorative item in clothing at least as long ago as the 15th century. A folded Miura can be packed into a flat, compact shape and unfolded in one continuous motion, making it ideal for packing rigid structures like solar panels. It also occurs in nature in a variety of situations, such as in insect wings and certain leaves.

"We found an incredible amount of flexibility hidden inside the geometry of the Miura-ori," said Levi Dudte, graduate student in the Mahadevan lab and first author of the paper. "As it turns out, this fold is capable of creating many more shapes than we imagined."

Think surgical stents that can be packed flat and pop-up into three-dimensional structures once inside the body or dining room tables that can lean flat against the wall until they are ready to be used.

"The collapsibility, transportability and deployability of Miura-ori folded objects makes it a potentially attractive design for everything from space-bound payloads to small-space living to laparoscopic surgery and soft robotics," said Dudte.

To explore the potential of the tessellation, the team developed an algorithm that can create certain shapes using the Miura-ori fold, repeated with small variations. Given the specifications of the target shape, the program lays out the folds needed to create the design, which can then be laser printed for folding.

The program takes into account several factors, including the stiffness of the folded material and the trade-off between the accuracy of the pattern and the effort associated with creating finer folds - an important characterization because, as of now, these shapes are all folded by hand.

"Essentially, we would like to be able to tailor any shape by using an appropriate folding pattern," said Mahadevan. "Starting with the basic mountain-valley fold, our algorithm determines how to vary it by gently tweaking it from one location to the other to make a vase, a hat, a saddle, or to stitch them together to make more and more complex structures."

In the intricate and delicate folds of origami, lies not just an ancient art form, but the unfolding future of aerospace engineering. This traditional Japanese practice of paper folding, dating back to the 17th century, is now revolutionising modern aerospace engineering in ways that were once unimaginable.

Origami, at its core, is about transforming a flat sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. The beauty of origami lies in its simplicity and the infinite possibilities it presents. This same principle is now being applied to aerospace engineering, offering innovative solutions to complex problems.

One of the most significant applications of origami in aerospace is in the design of spacecraft and satellite components. Space is a premium in spacecraft, and every inch counts. Origami-inspired techniques allow for components to be compactly folded for launch and then expanded once in space. This approach not only saves space but also reduces the weight of the spacecraft, a critical factor in aerospace engineering.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is a prime example of origami principles in action. The telescope's sunshield, which protects it from the heat and light of the Sun, employs an origami-based design. This design enables the sunshield to be folded compactly during launch and then unfurled to its full size in space, a process reminiscent of unfolding a piece of paper into an intricate origami model.

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