| So now I want you to discuss the lesson we've just been watching on the video |
| and think about the ways in which origami can be a useful educational tool. |
| Can you all work with the person sitting next to you... |
| I had no idea that such a simple thing like folding squares of paper to make the shape of something like a bird could be such an amazing tool. |
| It's made me see origami in a whole new light. |
| I know. |
| It was interesting to see the educational skills the children were developing by doing origami. |
| On the video you could see them really listening hard |
| to make sure they did all the steps in the right order to make the bird. |
| That's right. |
| In this lesson they were working individually |
| but it would also be interesting to see if the children could work out how to make something simple |
| without being given any direction. |
| That would help with building teamwork as well. |
| Yes, but much more of a challenge. |
| One thing that really stood out for me was that the children were all having fun while being taught something new. |
| Which is a key aim of any lesson with this age group. |
| And although these kids had no problems with folding the paper, |
| with younger children you could do origami to help practise fine motor skills. |
| Absolutely. |
| Shall we talk about the individual children we saw on the video? |
| I wrote all their names down and took some notes. |
| Yes, I did too. |
| OK, good. |
| Let's start with Sid. |
| He was interesting because before they started doing the origami, he was being quite disruptive. |
| Yes. |
| He really benefited from having to use his hands, |
| it helped him to settle down and start concentrating. |
| Yes, I noticed that too. |
| What about Jack? |
| I noticed he seemed to want to work things out for himself. |
| You could see him trying out different things rather than asking the teacher for help. |
| What did you make of Naomi? |
| She seemed to be losing interest at one point |
| but then she decided she wanted her mouse to be the best |
| and that motivated her to try harder. |
| She didn't seem satisfied with hers in the end, though. |
| No. |
| Anya was such a star. |
| She listened so carefully |
| and then produced the perfect bird with very little effort. |
| I think the teacher could have increased the level of difficulty for her. |
| Hmm... maybe. |
| I think it was the first time Zara had come across origami. |
| She looked as if she didn't really get what was going on. |
| She seemed unsure about what she was supposed to do. |
| but in the end hers didn't turn out too badly. |
| Yeah. I'm sure it was a positive learning experience for her. |
| I think one reason why the origami activity worked so well in this class |
| was that the teacher was well prepared. |
| Right. |
| I think it would have taken me ages to prepare examples, |
| showing each of the steps involved in making the bird. |
| But that was a really good idea. |
| The children could see what they were aiming for, |
| and much better for them to be able to hold something, |
| rather than just looking at pictures. |
| Those physical examples supported her verbal explanations really well. |
| It's strange that origami isn't used more widely. |
| Why do you think that is? |
| Well, teachers may just feel it's not that appealing to children who are used to doing everything on computers, |
| especially boys. |
| Even if they're aware of the benefits. |
| Oh, I don't know. It's no different to any other craft activity. |
| I bet it's because so many teachers are clumsy like me. |
| That's true, |
| too much effort required if you're not good with your hands. |
| Well, anyway, I think we should try it out in our maths teaching practice with Year 3. |
| I can see using origami is a really engaging way of reinforcing children's knowledge of geometric shapes, |
| like they were doing in the video, |
| but I think it would also work really well for presenting fractions, which is coming up soon. |
| Good idea, that's something most of the kids in that class might struggle with. |
| Origami would also be good practice for using symmetry, |
| but I think they did that last term. |
| OK, well let's try and get some ideas together and plan the lesson next week. |
| OK, if you could... |