I may need to post this in a place where I can see it daily: Get out of your students’ way.

Neil Degrasse Tyson summed this up very well:

Today, my volunteer shift at Math on a Stick was a bold reminder of that.  Sarah Stengle , the visiting mathematical artist, brought Kaleidocycles.   She cleverly created cardstock that was pre-scored with the template for easier folding by little hands.

The problem:  this project had a specific directions for a specified outcome.  We could fold in a different order and decorate differently but ultimately, the process for each kid needed to be very much the same so that they each ended up with a working kaleidocycle.

Because this craft was three-dimensional, we recommended that they decorate the paper before folding.[Side note:  observing the differing levels of precision the children used while coloring was interesting].

When children know that the outcome is going to be really cool, they are very willing to let the adult do the work for them.  To be fair, this was a tough project for the littler ones to do independently.

And then in walks an adorable blonde girl about five years old.  She might as well have been Maria.

Child: I’m going to make one.

Me: Awesome, let’s grab some markers so we can decorate it.

Child: I want to decorate it AFTER I fold it.

Me: Well, because it’s…nevermind, you can do that.

Child:  I’m going to draw pictures of my family on the triangles.

When we finished, she had come up with the most beautiful piece of math paper art I had ever seen in my life.  The reason: She fought my insisting that the paper needed to be colored pre-folding.

When she played around with the kaleidocycle, she could hide and unhide her family.  And then the heart in the middle…exploded.  And so did my brain.  This was so…incredibly…awesome.  Take a second and watch her awesomeness.