Lesson 1 — Tools Are Made to Solve Problems

Summary

Learners discover that a tool is a thing people make to solve a problem, and that a machine is a tool with moving parts. They match a problem to the tool that solves it — a heavy water jug to a pump, food to cut to a knife, soil to dig to a hoe — and draw one problem and the tool that solves it. Along the way they learn that people everywhere make tools, that no people’s tools matter more than another’s, and that a tool is not magic: it is a problem made easier.

Objectives

• Explain that tools and machines are made by people to solve a problem, and give an example. (D10.S1.02.01)

Connection

Think of a problem you met today. A jar lid was too tight to open. A bag was too heavy to carry. A piece of food was too hard to cut with your fingers. People made tools to solve problems exactly like these: a gripper to open the jar, a basket or a cart to carry the bag, a knife to cut the food. Every tool you see was made by a person who wanted to make a problem easier.

Materials

• Problem-and-tool picture cards (a problem and the tool that solves it, in pairs)
• Paper and crayons

Preparation

• Prepare or draw problem-and-tool pairs: a heavy water jug → a pump; food to cut → a knife; soil to dig → a hoe; cloth to join → a needle.
• Set out one real, safe tool to hold and name (a spoon, a cup, a digging stick).
• Clear space to act out a problem and its tool.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). Keep the message gentle and true: tools are wonderful, but they are not magic and they are not better just because they are new. The heart of the idea is made by people, to solve a problem — a rock is not a tool until a person picks it up to grind or dig; a spoon is a tool because a person made it. Honor every tool equally: a mortar and pestle solves the same kind of problem as a blender, and a water jug is just as real a tool as a pump. Never rank one people’s tools above another’s, and never present any one tool as “the real modern one.” A machine is simply a tool with moving parts (a whisk, a pump, a bicycle); introduce it only as an extension of the same idea. Honor every body: naming and matching can be done by voice, sign, touch, gesture, or a partner’s hands, and each way counts equally. Supervise any handling of tools. For a learner who is blind or has low vision, let them hold and feel each tool and name the problem it solves by its shape and weight; a learner who does not use a speaking voice can point, gesture, or place the card to show the answer.

Procedure

1. Gather (5 min). Look around you. A tool is a thing people make to help them solve a problem. Name one tool you can see right now and the problem it helps with.
2. Meet problems and tools (10 min). Look at the problem cards one by one. For each, name the problem: “This person has a heavy water jug to carry.” Then find the tool that solves it: “A pump helps lift the water so it is easier to carry.”
3. Meet a machine (5 min). Some tools have moving parts — they are called machines. A whisk, a pump, and a bicycle are machines. They still solve a problem; they just move while they do it.
4. Match problem to tool (10 min). With the cards, match each problem to the tool that solves it. Say it in a full sentence: “The knife solves the problem of food that is hard to cut.”
5. Draw a problem and its tool (10 min). Draw one problem and the tool a person made to solve it. Write or say one sentence: “People made the ___ to solve ___.”
6. Close (5 min). People everywhere make tools to solve problems. A tool is not magic and not better just because it is new — it is a problem made easier by a person’s hands.

Differentiation

• Support: Name one problem and one tool together aloud, using the frame “People made the ___ to solve ___,” while holding the real tool.
• Blind/low vision: Hold and feel each tool, naming the problem it solves by shape, weight, and texture, with a partner describing each card.
• Deaf/hard of hearing: Share each problem and tool with sign, pictures, and acting; the learner signs or points to the tool and to the problem it solves.
• Non-speaking: Point to or gesture toward the tool and the problem it solves, while a partner says the full sentence aloud.
• Motor differences: Choose the tool and direct a partner’s hands to match and draw while the learner says or points to the problem; use big, light cards placed within reach.
• Extension: Name a machine with moving parts (a pump, a whisk, a bicycle) and tell the problem it solves.

Assessment

• Formative (observation): Can the learner explain that a tool is made by people to solve a problem, and give one example of a problem and its tool?
• Artifact (portfolio): The “problem and its tool” drawing with a sentence.

Home connection

At home, find one problem in a room — a lid to open, a floor to sweep, water to carry — and name the tool your family uses to solve it. Ask a grown-up which tool they are most glad someone invented, and why.

Resources

• Britannica Kids, “Tool” — a tool is anything used to make a change to something else or to help do a job, supporting the lesson’s core idea that people make tools to solve a problem. https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/tool/400194