Fullerene / Buckyball The Royal Institution of Great Britain Mathematics Masterclasses
4th June 2009
Teacher preparation - reflection pre- and post-activity
Fullerene / Buckyball
How can 3d shapes be used to teach other topics other than 3d shapes itself? E.g. angles in 2d shapes; parallel and perpendicular lines in space.
What could pupils gain from building the family of Platonic solids? (Find the names of the below.)
How can Platonic and Archimedean solids (see following page) be used to help introduce or motivate to other mathematical topics and skills?
Imagine you have a supply of balloons and markers to write on it. Which concepts, skills or activities could be explored using this medium?
Archimedean Solids
This activity has been inspired and informed by the work of the sculptor Simon Thomas.
Further ideas for the activity and the worksheet were taken from the book Project Origami by Thomas Hull.
The masterclass was developed with the generous support of The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Further questions? Contact .
Page 1 of 4
Fullerene / Buckyball The Royal Institution of Great Britain Mathematics Masterclasses
4th June 2009
truncated tetrahedron/
/
cuboctahedron
/
/
truncated cube
or truncated hexahedron
/
/
truncated octahedron
/ /
rhombicuboctahedron
or small rhombicuboctahedron
/
/
truncated cuboctahedron
or great rhombicuboctahedron
/
/
snub cube
or snub hexahedron
or snub cuboctahedron
/
/
icosidodecahedron
/
/
truncated dodecahedron
/
/
truncated icosahedron
or buckyball
or football/soccer ball
/
/
rhombicosidodecahedron
or small rhombicosidodecahedron
/
/
truncated icosidodecahedron
or great rhombicosidodecahedron
/
/
snub dodecahedron
or snub icosidodecahedron
/
/
This activity has been inspired and informed by the work of the sculptor Simon Thomas.
Further ideas for the activity and the worksheet were taken from the book Project Origami by Thomas Hull.
The masterclass was developed with the generous support of The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Further questions? Contact .
Page 1 of 4
Fullerene / Buckyball The Royal Institution of Great Britain Mathematics Masterclasses
4th June 2009
How would you implement this activity in the classroom? You may want to take into account the following points:
(before the lesson)
- Which competences it addresses?
- What is the point of it?
- Did you feel challenged as a teacher? What are the benefits of going through a learning experience as a teacher?
- How to adapt the activity to different year groups?
- What are the possible pitfalls?
- What do you say when a pupil says that thisis not mathematics? (e.g. ‘Miss/Sir, paper folding is not mathematics. Why are we doing this?’)
- What are the benefits of such an activity for:Yr7 pupils; GCSE pupils; sixth formers?
- How can you address differentiation of pupils? (one way is using pupils that picked it up quicker as helpers)
- What is the value of working in groups as pupils?
- What is the value of working in a team with other teachers to develop activities?
- What have you learnt as a teacher preparing this activity?
(after the lesson)
- What are your thoughts on using the style of this session as your teaching style?
- What have you learnt today as a teacher?
- Did you feel challenged as a teacher? What are the benefits of feeling outside our comfort zone?
- What are the possible pitfalls of these activities? How did you overcome these possible problems?
If you have suggestions that could make this resource pack more accessible to other teachers be in touch on . We hope you have enjoyed the experience!
Sara Santos
This activity has been inspired and informed by the work of the sculptor Simon Thomas.
Further ideas for the activity and the worksheet were taken from the book Project Origami by Thomas Hull.
The masterclass was developed with the generous support of The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Further questions? Contact .
Page 1 of 4