Power of the Paperfuge

“The NVIV (Next Vista Inspiring Video) series of posts are written by Rushton Hurley and designed to provide students and teachers with fascinating discussion prompts.”

In The Power of the Paperfuge, Rushton features a Stanford researcher who uses paper and string to create a paperfuge.

He gives the following prompts to accompany this video:

“What is something you rely on that is complex and expensive? With some classmates, come up with a list. Share your list with others in the class, and then try having a brainstorming session to see if you can come up with a different way of creating one of those things.

How would you learn whether your idea can work? Can you try it yourself? Can you find someone who can help you experiment with it?

Do you learn something new just by engaging in a brainstorming session?

One thing you might learn is that the people who created the paperfuge must have been really good at asking, “What if?”

It’s amazing how simple yet powerful this creation is! It reminds me of a saying a learned many years ago - Keep It Simple, Silly! (KISS). Sometimes I wonder if we make things more complicated than they should be. Students can look at this video and realize that any of them could be the discoverer of a life-changing invention.

Please check out the video and think of other prompts you might come up with. Please share.