1So now I want you to discuss the lesson we've just been watching on the video
2and think about the ways in which origami can be a useful educational tool.
3Can you all work with the person sitting next to you...
4I 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.
5It's made me see origami in a whole new light.
6I know.
7It was interesting to see the educational skills the children were developing by doing origami.
8On the video you could see them really listening hard
9to make sure they did all the steps in the right order to make the bird.
10That's right.
11In this lesson they were working individually
12but it would also be interesting to see if the children could work out how to make something simple
13without being given any direction.
14That would help with building teamwork as well.
15Yes, but much more of a challenge.
16One thing that really stood out for me was that the children were all having fun while being taught something new.
17Which is a key aim of any lesson with this age group.
18And although these kids had no problems with folding the paper,
19with younger children you could do origami to help practise fine motor skills.
20Absolutely.
21Shall we talk about the individual children we saw on the video?
22I wrote all their names down and took some notes.
23Yes, I did too.
24OK, good.
25Let's start with Sid.
26He was interesting because before they started doing the origami, he was being quite disruptive.
27Yes.
28He really benefited from having to use his hands,
29it helped him to settle down and start concentrating.
30Yes, I noticed that too.
31What about Jack?
32I noticed he seemed to want to work things out for himself.
33You could see him trying out different things rather than asking the teacher for help.
34What did you make of Naomi?
35She seemed to be losing interest at one point
36but then she decided she wanted her mouse to be the best
37and that motivated her to try harder.
38She didn't seem satisfied with hers in the end, though.
39No.
40Anya was such a star.
41She listened so carefully
42and then produced the perfect bird with very little effort.
43I think the teacher could have increased the level of difficulty for her.
44Hmm... maybe.
45I think it was the first time Zara had come across origami.
46She looked as if she didn't really get what was going on.
47She seemed unsure about what she was supposed to do.
48but in the end hers didn't turn out too badly.
49Yeah. I'm sure it was a positive learning experience for her.
50I think one reason why the origami activity worked so well in this class
51was that the teacher was well prepared.
52Right.
53I think it would have taken me ages to prepare examples,
54showing each of the steps involved in making the bird.
55But that was a really good idea.
56The children could see what they were aiming for,
57and much better for them to be able to hold something,
58rather than just looking at pictures.
59Those physical examples supported her verbal explanations really well.
60It's strange that origami isn't used more widely.
61Why do you think that is?
62Well, teachers may just feel it's not that appealing to children who are used to doing everything on computers,
63especially boys.
64Even if they're aware of the benefits.
65Oh, I don't know. It's no different to any other craft activity.
66I bet it's because so many teachers are clumsy like me.
67That's true,
68too much effort required if you're not good with your hands.
69Well, anyway, I think we should try it out in our maths teaching practice with Year 3.
70I can see using origami is a really engaging way of reinforcing children's knowledge of geometric shapes,
71like they were doing in the video,
72but I think it would also work really well for presenting fractions, which is coming up soon.
73Good idea, that's something most of the kids in that class might struggle with.
74Origami would also be good practice for using symmetry,
75but I think they did that last term.
76OK, well let's try and get some ideas together and plan the lesson next week.
77OK, if you could...