Due Sunday, September 19

For this assignment, you’ll perform a paper-folding activity, document it, and share a record of it, along with your thoughts, as an OpenLab post.

Step 1

Find a piece of paper. Letter-sized or larger will work best. It can have writing on it, but it should have one blank side. On the blank side, draw a small dot somewhere near the middle of the page. (If you turn the page sideways, it will be helpful if your dot is near the middle on the left-right axis, but it can actually be anywhere on the up-down axis.)

Step 1: just a dot

Step 2

Turn the page over and draw a line along one of the long edges. You won’t actually do anything with this line, but it will help later to refer to a “marked” edge.

Step 2: it doesn’t even have to be a straight line

Step 3

Turn the page back over so the blank side with the dot is facing up again and the marked edge is at the bottom. Fold the bottom up so that the marked edge touches the dot. The fold can be at any angle you want. Crease the paper along this fold.

Step 3: fold and crease

Step 4

Unfold the paper so that you can see the unfolded crease.

Step 4: unfold your paper

Steps 5 to n-1

Now repeat steps 3 and 4 again, but this time fold at a different angle so that the marked edge touches the dot. Then do it again at a different angle. Do it again and again, as many times and you can possibly stand, always with the marked edge touching the dot with folds at different angles (try to do this at least 20-30 times).

Step n

By now, your paper should have a lot of creases on it. If you folded and unfolded enough times, you’ll notice that your paper has been roughly divided into two regions: one that is creased and one that is not creased. Draw the boundary between the two regions. What shape does it look like you’ve drawn?

Now what?

Submit a new post on the OpenLab.

  1. Title your post Week 3 paper-folding experiment.
  2. Select the category Week 3 paper-folding.
  3. Add a photo or two of your process and finished result.
  4. Write a paragraph with your thoughts about Step n. Can you tell what shape you’ve drawn? What does it look like? Does this activity remind you of anything you’ve seen before? What do you notice? What do you wonder? (Try not to look at your classmates’ posts before you submit your own!)
  5. Bring your creased paper to class.

This experiment will get us ready for a topic that we’ll see later in the course.