[01:01.11]TUTOR: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.
[01:11.88]Can you all work with the person sitting next to you ...
[01:15.79]SEB: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.
[01:24.52]It's made me see origami in a whole new light.
[01:27.44]LlA:I know. It was interesting to see the educational skills the children were developing by doing origami.
[01:34.36]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.
[01:41.62]SEB: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.
[01:54.05]That would help with building teamwork as well.
[01:56.83]LlA:Yes, but much more of a challenge.
[02:00.18]One thing that really stood out for me was that the children were all having fun while being taught something new.
[02:06.66]SEB:Which is a key aim of any lesson with this age group.
[02:10.03]And although these kids had no problems with folding the paper, with younger children you could do origami to help practise fine motor skills.
[02:18.93]LlA:Absolutely. Shall we talk about the individual children we saw on the video? I wrote all their names down and took some notes.
[02:28.56]SEB:Yes, I did too.
[02:29.90]LlA:OK, good. Let's start with Sid.
[02:33.58]SEB:He was interesting because before they started doing the origami, he was being quite disruptive.
[02:40.09]LlA:Yes. He really benefited from having to use his hands — it helped him to settle down and start concentrating.
[02:48.50]SEB:Yes, I noticed that too.
[02:50.71]What about Jack?
[02:52.94]I noticed he seemed to want to work things out for himself.
[02:57.58]LlA:Mmm. You could see him trying out different things rather than asking the teacher for help.
[03:02.97]What did you make of Naomi?
[03:05.57]SEB: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.
[03:14.89]LlA:She didn't seem satisfied with hers in the end, though.
[03:18.43]SEB:No.
[03:19.87]LlA:Anya was such a star.
[03:22.66]She listened so carefully and then produced the perfect bird with very little effort.
[03:29.38]SEB:Mmm — I think the teacher could have increased the level of difficulty for her.
[03:33.99]LlA:Maybe. I think it was the first time Zara had come across origami.
[03:40.16]SEB:She looked as if she didn't really get what was going on.
[03:43.13]LlA:She seemed unsure about what she was supposed to do, but in the end hers didn't turn out too badly.
[03:49.79]SEB:Yeah. I'm sure it was a positive learning experience for her.
[03:53.51]LlA:Mmm.
[04:36.03]LlA:I think one reason why the origami activity worked so well in this class was that the teacher was well prepared.
[04:43.75]SEB:Right. I think it would have taken me ages to prepare examples, showing each of the steps involved in making the bird.
[04:51.64]But that was a really good idea.
[04:54.07]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.
[05:02.15]LlA:Mmm — those physical examples supported her verbal explanations really well.
[05:07.43]SEB:It's strange that origami isn't used more widely.
[05:10.96]Why do you think that is?
[05:13.19]LlA:Well, teachers may just feel it's not that appealing to children who are used to doing everything on computers, especially boys.
[05:20.71]Even if they're aware of the benefits.
[05:22.89]SEB:Oh, I don't know. It's no different to any other craft activity.
[05:27.30]I bet it's because so many teachers are clumsy like me.
[05:31.61]LlA:That's true — too much effort required if you're not good with your hands.
[05:35.96]SEB:Well, anyway, I think we should try it out in our maths teaching practice with Year 3.
[05:42.54]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.
[05:58.66]LlA:Good idea — that's something most of the kids in that class might struggle with.
[06:03.71]Origami would also be good practice for using symmetry — but | think they did that last term.
[06:09.75]SEB:OK — well let's try and get some ideas together and plan the lesson next week.
[06:15.97]LlA:OK, if you could all stop...
