Any Way You Slice It…

Originally published April 16, 2019

Hands-on learning is an effective approach! SASSA in the Classroom recently shared one of its unique modules with students from a local middle school. In the first activity of this module, students learned about flintknapping. In the second activity, they had the opportunity to put their own, handmade “obsidian” tools to the test!

But let’s not cut to the chase just yet! For this activity, students use their stone tools to cut through different types of food. After identifying material properties of some of these foods, they use the scientific method to develop a hypothesis explaining what they think will happen and why.

A student participating in a SASSA in the Classroom activity shows off the “stone” tool she knapped and then used to cut celery and grapes. © SASSA

Sometimes things get a little dicey, but in the end, they are always able to explain their results and develop conclusions based on their observations!