So... the 'dates' are a little off.
Last spring I attended the NCTM national conference in Denver. I attended some really great sessions. The last one was the finale with George and Vi Hart. They are what I like to call “recreational mathematicians.” You know… because that’s a thing! After seeing some of Vi’s videos, I was interested.
Later, I decided I wanted to do the hexaflexagons in school. It was her idea, really. We had a hexaflexagon party on Martin Gardner’s birthday. He was the ‘original recreational mathematician.’ His birthday is October 21, so I put it on iCal, and waited for the day to come. I showed Vi’s videos Hexaflexagons, Hexaflexagons 2, Hexaflexagon Safety Guide, and Hexaflexamexagon- I think that’s the one that hooked me originally! I printed off the hexaflexagon template. I told the kids to be sure to make good creases! They created their tri-hexaflexagons, decorated them, and a few even tried the hexa-hexaflexagon.
Truthfully, I have not figured out the
hexa-hexaflexagon. In due time. … I’m
getting better at the tri-hexaflexagon.
One class (out of 6) I had a tough time with the tri-hexaflexagon. I finally got it to fold the correct way and
it was the very end of class. I decided
to go ahead and let them finish it the next day, but we didn’t need to spend an
entire class on it. So I came up with a
little research worksheet. To ensure
they didn’t use Wikipedia, I made them ‘cite’ their sources.
I thought it was pretty cool and the kids liked it. It makes math fun again- at least a little!
I made them color some design to show that when you 'flex' it, the design changes.
This year, I made my own template. It wasn't too difficult, but it worked the best. It was not perfect, but if you made the creases well, then you could make a hexaflexagon.
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