Revisiting folding a dodecahedron into a cube

Folding a dodecahedron into a cube has been one of my favorite projects to do with the boys. Our first few projects about a “dodecahedron folding into a cube” are here:

A neat post from Simon Gregg showing that a dodecahedron can fold into a cube

Can you believe that a dodecahderon folds into a cube?

(see the link above for the source of the amazing GIF on the right of the screen!)

Some 3D Geometry for Pamela Rawson

Today I had the boys work through the whole project on their own – just stopping every now and then to check in and hear about the progress.

Here are their initial thoughts after building the dodecahedron:

In the second part of the project the boys constructed one of the cubes that can be inscribed in a dodecahedron:

For the 3rd part of the project they “folded” the dodecahedron into a cube

Finally, the boys connected up the zome balls inside the cube and found an icosahedron.

Folding up the dodecahedron into a cube is one of my all time favorite math projects.  It is such a surprise that the two shapes can be connected in this way, and it is really fun to explore this connection with our zometool set!