Overview
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Word Of The Day

Tool
A tool is a device that helps people do a task.

• Ask students identify the tools pictured in the slides. Show students in person examples if possible.

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Previewing Activity

Show students scissors

• What are these?
• Are they a tool?
• What do they do?
• Why do we use them?

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Materials & Prep

• Cardboard
• Brass brads

Prior to the lesson, cut the cardboard into two 8” x 1” sheets per student. One end will be a “blade” and the other will be a handle. Create a small hole about 2 thirds of the way up the handle to make a place for the pivot point. Distribute a brass brad, two 8” x 1” sheets to each student or group of students.
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Optional

• Strawbees Classroom Kit

Distribute two long straws, two shorts straws, two yellow connectors, and a blue connector to each student or group of students.

Procedure

Students will be guided through a build of a pair of scissors using pre-cut cardboard and brass brads. See presentation for guidance.
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Optional
‍Students will be guided through a build process for a pair of scissors using Strawbees. See presentation for guidance.

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Assessment

Students explain/write how life would be different without scissors.

Extension
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Questions
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• What do you need in order to use scissors? (Right handed vs. left handed scissors + consider what if a student is missing a thumb)
• How are scissors different from the pliers? What can cut paper that isn’t a pair of scissors? (Pliers look similar to scissors, but possess different properties and meet a different need)

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Standards
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• K-2-ETS1-2
  Designs can be conveyed through sketches, drawings, or physical models. These representations are useful in communicating ideas for a problem’s solutions to other people.
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• K-2-ETS1-3
  Because there is always more than one possible solution to a problem, it is useful to compare and test designs.
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• 3.5.K-2.U
  Explain that design is a response to wants and needs.
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• 3.5.K-2.P
  Discuss that all designs have different characteristics that can be described.
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• 3.5.K-2.O
  Illustrate that there are different solutions to a design and that none are perfect.

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Extension Activity

If applicable, students should extend the design of their scissors to accommodate a different population. Students will modify their existing design using additional Strawbees or paper additions in the case of the cardboard construction. See the slides for further information.

Further extension can take the form of a discussion revolving around the design specifications of a pair of scissors compared to those of pliers. Students should be alerted to the fact that pliers may look similar to scissors, but they have a very different functionality which makes them worse at cutting things but better at picking things up.