Natural Math! Moebius Noodles will be a free Creative Commons book and community about advanced math games for parents and educators of children ages birth to five years. You can learn about Möbius strips and participate in the campaign in a number of ways.
About Moebius Noodles and Möbius Strips
A Moebius Noodle is a paper Möbius strip, also called a twisted cylinder. In his article, "The Mobius Strip: Topology of a Mathematical Paradox," Isaac McPhee described the Mobius strip simply as a surface with only one side and one edge or, in this case, a half-twisted loop of paper.
"Imagine a piece of paper." he said. "Clearly, this surface possesses two sides and four edges, creating a perfectly standard shape, easily defined in a topological sense. Now, imagine the same shape, but with three of the edges taken away, and with only one side... does this seem impossible?"
In her article on "Kaleidescopes, Mosaics, Folded Paper, and Geometry," Catherine Whitehead described a Möbius strip as "an ordinary piece of paper with two sides of course, but because of a twist in the paper, when the ends are connected the Mobius strip has just a single side (try tracing your finger along it to be sure). The Mobius strip does not sound very useful, but a more complex shape inspired by the Mobius strip, the Klein bottle, inspires theories about space-time warps and black holes."
How to Make a Paper Mobius Strip
Make a Möbius strip and trace it with your finger or a pencil to test whether or not it really has has only one surface.
- Cut a strip of paper.
- Loop the strip around as if you're going to make a regular loop.
- At the last moment, flip over one end.
- Glue the ends together forming a half-twisted loop.
Initially, my children and I cut 1-inch wide strips from the long edge of an 8.5 x 14 size paper. This size works well for cutting experiments. Then we began making larger Möbius strips, about 4 x 28 inches, for making Mobius stories (YouTube).
How You Can Participate in the Moebius Noodles Campaign
- Learn about easy paper Möbius strip activities at Cut The Knot.
- Play the social game: Post a photo of your child or yourself playing with a Moebius noodle. Tag it with the #moebiusnoodles hashtag.
- Join the crowd-funding campaign: Your $1=MILLIONS (of kids playing advanced math games worldwide).
- Volunteer with Moebius Noodles. Send in young math games, translate materials, and answer questions. Learn more at NaturalMath.com.
- Spread the word. Share this article with fellow parents and educators.
Learn More About Math with Möbius Strip Activities
Explore Möbius strip illustrations and descriptions on Wolfram Mathworld.
Read about some Moebius Noodles games and activities taught in a Moebius Noodles course for parents and educators.
Read the history of A.F. Möbius, the German mathematician and astronomer who discovered the one-sided surface.
Stay tuned for the release of the Moebius Noodles free book and community. In the mean time, make a pile of Möbius strips to play with and explore.
You might also enjoy: Unschooling Math and Online Math Games.
Sara McGrath - Sara is a veteran homeschool mom of three, Usborne consultant, and the author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning.
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