Paper craft, a teaching tool

TEACHING life science can be challenging at times. One of the major goals of biology education is to enable students to appreciate the delicate relationship between the forms and functions of living organisms.

Students are expected to familiarise themselves with the various structural components within an organism and how each part interacts with one another. What an instructor communicates verbally may potentially be misinterpreted by the students. This is especially true when students possess different language proficiency levels.

The use of commercially available three dimensional models as a teaching tool could overcome this obstacle. Unfortunately, educators, especially those in developing countries, may not have the luxury of using 3D models. The purpose of this article is to highlight the many advantages of using paper crafts to enhance the learning experience of life science students since it has not gained enough publicity it deserves in Malaysia.

Paper crafts has its roots in many ancient civilisations but in modern times has become increasingly associated with the Japanese as they have embraced it in many facets of their life. Two of the most popular forms of Japanese paper craft are origami and kirigami. Both involve folding a flat sheet of paper into a structure but origami, unlike kirigami, does not involve cuts, glue or markings on the paper. For the purpose of brevity, these two forms of craft will be collectively known as origami in this article.

Origami is especially useful when budget constraints limit the acquisition of 3D models in schools. For example, the structure of DNA could easily cost up to a few hundred ringgit and could only cater to one class at a time.

Hideo Tsuchiya, a biology teacher in Japan has come up with a brilliant solution to this. He runs an amazing website called “Soil-Shop Biological Teaching-Material Works” with a myriad of meticulously designed biology paper-based models templates that can be downloaded for free. There is an extensive body of work in the website and it is quite impossible not to be impressed. Take the DNA model as an example. There are multiple versions of DNA models which vary in terms of levels of difficulties and what’s more, these models are up to scale! The only caveat is that this website is in the Japanese language but with today’s technology, translation of the website is only one click away. As an added bonus, Tsuchiya has also designed pop-up models and spinning models to depict many cell structures and physiological processes. The availability of soft copies of these templates mean that it could be a cost-saving strategy for model building in classrooms.

Not only is origami a cost-effective substitute to commercial models, it could also make the teaching of life-science more engaging and interesting. The active participation of students in building the models make learning more effective. Research has shown that handson activities could enhance students’ understanding in Science. So if you are a life-science educator looking to spice up your lessons, look no further and just incorporate origami in your lesson plans! Trust me, your students will appreciate your effort.

HO WAI YEW Biology Lecturer, Centre for Foundation Studies, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman