McWorter Worksheet
Dr. William McWorter is one of the seven Black mathematicians to have earned a PhD in mathematics from The Ohio State University. He graduated in 1963. He also obtained bachelor and master’s degrees from OSU.
Learn more about Dr. McWorter on his profile page
One of the topics Dr. McWorter was interested on was fractals. More specifically, he studied algorithms to generate fractals using computers. The lesson plan we propose revolves around one particular fractal that can be created through very simple folds on strips of paper. Dr. McWorter not only explored this fractal, but also experimented with recursive paper folds to create new fractals.
This ready-to-print worksheet is ideal if you are looking for a quick activity or if you are a social sciences educator and don't want to invest so much time talking about math. Besides the printable student worksheet, you will find a version with solutions as well as a set of slides to project and guide the activity. Note that the last slide includes the solutions.
Lesson Details
Grade level: 2nd to 8th
Estimated time: 15 minutes
Form of work: Individual
Math concepts: sequence, algorithm, recursion, infinity, patterns
This activity is also available as a full lesson plan in two levels: grades K to 3rd or 4th to 8th.
Filters: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, algorithm, patterns, sequences, recursion, infinity, craft, 15 minutes
