City art school makes learning math fun through origami

She believes that math as a subject needs to be taught experientially so she conducts regular classes and programmes for parents and children, in learning geometry through origami.

A teacher by profession, Roopika used to run a Makerspace (platform that engages community to access and learn about professional tools and use them to create something) at a Pune school, where students from Grade 4 to 12 got to learn origami. “Eventually, we began trying to use the curriculum and children’s interest to implement this art form in various aspects like design, architecture and more,” she says. By doing so, she tackled two vital problems — kids not understanding what was being taught, and them not being able to practically apply what they learnt.

After her transfer to Chennai was when she realised the problem was much worse than it seemed here. “In my initial workshop I realised that most kids here understand only 2D geometry. The problem arises because students aren’t given thinking exercises in school but spoon-fed. Math has to be taught practically and this is the real challenge, so much husband, who’s an expert in this subject and I began researching further on how to implement origami in math,” she adds.

Today, Roopika teaches students what parallelograms, other quadrilaterals, rhombi, etc. are by curating certain models to help them differentiate between figures. They start with cubes, progress to other quadrilaterals and move on to platonic solids, which they’re free to tinker around, she says. “Our aim is to encourage active and healthy competition among children to crack a problem so we bring in understanding of colours and symmetry also. It’s fun to see how they brain-storm together so it teaches team work too,” she says.

The duo also focusses on sharpening their visualization skills. She explains, “When we give kids a rectangle and ask them to form a square, they fold the diagonal line and cut it but no one understands why they’re doing this. We ‘show’ them that a square has to be equal on all sides, hence the diagonal is essential to achieve this through a rectangle. When kids ‘see’ why they’re doing something, as opposed to being told to do so, understanding it becomes easier.”

To enrol your child in the classes conducted by Hands on Paper, head over to their Harrington Road or Besant Nagar school on every Saturday at 9 pm. Contact 9881068796 for further details.