Gina Fawks

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Gilchrist, Sandra

Keywords

Math, Origami, Elementary

Area of Concentration

Natural Sciences

Abstract

There is a disconnect that students have between what they learn in the math classroom and what they understand and can do in the 'real' world. Informal math education can be used to bridge that gap. A specific type of informal math education is the use of origami to teach math concepts. I worked with forty-five elementary school students at the Roy McBean Boys and Girls Club of America. I did three origami projects covering a variety of math concepts that students in kindergarten through fifth grade should know or learn based on Florida Sunshine Standards ([Anonymous] Florida 2010) with corresponding worksheets for the non-origami group and nothing for a control group. Each group took two tests, a vocabulary based pre- and post-test and a test reviewing math concepts such as addition, multiplication and fractions. This is a pilot study. There were few statistically significant outcomes in the short term. The Origami experimental group did improve their concepts test scores more than the control group. Research should be conducted to further our understanding of the usefulness of informal education methods, and origami in particular

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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