Materials...explore with your class

The second part of this topic guide leads on from the tricky scientific concepts that we explained in part one (you can revise them here). Now you're clear on what the children need to know and have the background science under your belt, you're ready to apply these ideas for teaching materials to your class!  

To teach this topic, children need time to investigate and explore a variety of materials and think about how they are similar and different and how they might be useful. For older children, there are some key investigations to carry out to understand how materials can be changed.
 

1. Let’s play!

As with so much learning, allowing children time to play, investigate and explore on their own terms is the best way to begin. Provide your pupils with a variety of materials and objects (familiar and unfamiliar) and let them lead their own learning. Their exploration can be done individually, but pairs and small groups will give the children the chance to discuss what they think, agree and disagree and begin to justify their thoughts.

As your pupils become more confident discussing materials, you can begin to guide and stretch them in a few ways:

• asking questions (e.g., what is this object made of? what does it feel like? where have you seen this material before? what could you use this material for? would this material be good for…?)

• discussing the vocabulary they use to describe the material and offering alternatives – beginning to build up a word bank

• challenging them to find similarities and differences between the materials and begin grouping them

• asking them to work in small groups to design an investigation to test the properties of materials. Have a look at a few of Explorify’s The Big Question activities for some inspiration: Which is the bendiest? How would you make a shelter for a human? What is the best surface to run on? Which rock would be best for a skate ramp?

2. Add something extra with an Explorify activity

There are a huge variety of Explorify activities you can use to add an extra element to your exploration of different materials. Odd One Out activities provide a great way to encourage children to make comparisons. A few highlights include: Gear up, Just a ball, Burly bridges, Through the looking glass, Unusual houses, Functional footwear and Wonderful wheels.

Zoom In, Zoom Out activities help children with their skills of observation, e.g., Cosy comfort, Black bobbles, Frozen desert and Hooks and loops.

What if… activities require children to consider materials and their properties from a different perspective: e.g., What if… Every material was stretchy? Every material was rigid? All materials was transparent? All your clothes were shiny? There was no plastic? Your school banned paper?

Explorify’s Mystery Bag activities are a fun way to really test your pupils’ understanding of material properties and give them an opportunity to try out their materials vocabulary. Synthetic selection, Branching out and Changing shape are good places to start.

3. Get cross-curricular

Have fun with some Science/DT projects to design (and even make) something to solve a particular problem. Key questions to consider include: What materials will be best suited to your solution? Why? Can you provide evidence to support your designs? 

Some Explorify activity ideas to get you started: Design a sports kit, Lightproof your secret den, Water carriers, Protect your ears, Suits you and Resilient rovers.

4. Research inspirational inventors

Learning about how other scientists have developed new, useful materials can be used to provide inspiration for your pupils. Good examples include, Charles Macintosh (waterproof fabric), Dr. Spencer Silver (post-it note), Emily Cummins and John Dunlop (rubberised pneumatic tyres). 

You might also find some ideas in our blog post Who are the scientists of today? Or try Astro inventions, an Odd One Out which introduces children to how scientific endeavor has helped develop materials useful for unintended activities.

5. Develop those scientific skills

These Zoom In, Zoom Out activities are useful for getting the discussion started about irreversible changes: Red and flaky, Brown and spicy, Craggy crevices, Bonkers bubbles. These What’s Going On? videos are also great to help demonstrate some changes to materials: Melting ice cubes, Tea for lift-off, Top of the pops, Baking cookies.

However, for children to gain a proper understanding of the various changes that can happen to materials, they need to experience them first hand. Carrying out investigations to demonstrate reversible changes (e.g., melting/freezing, evaporation/condensation, dissolving, different methods of separation) and irreversible changes (e.g., through burning, heating a mixture of substances that undergo chemical changes and rusting) are most effective if given a context relevant to your pupils’ everyday lives or as part of a challenge. STEM Learning has a range of activity ideas and worksheets to help get you started: Properties and changes of materials, irreversible changes.  

Importantly, carrying out these investigations is a perfect opportunity for children to develop their scientific skills, including:

• Asking their own questions about scientific phenomena

• Selecting and planning the most appropriate ways to answer questions 

• Grouping and classifying objects

• Carrying out comparative and fair tests

• Recording data and results in different ways

• Drawing conclusions and raising further questions to be investigated 

• Using appropriate scientific vocabulary and ideas to explain their findings

6. Use a concept cartoon

(Taken from Science Concept Cartoons® Set 1 Revised Edition (2014) and Science Concept Cartoons® Set 2 (2015). © Millgate House Education Ltd www.millgatehouse.co.uk) 

(Taken from Science Concept Cartoons® Set 1 Revised Edition (2014) and Science Concept Cartoons® Set 2 (2015). © Millgate House Education Ltd www.millgatehouse.co.uk) 

(Taken from Science Concept Cartoons® Set 1 Revised Edition (2014) and Science Concept Cartoons® Set 2 (2015). © Millgate House Education Ltd www.millgatehouse.co.uk)  

These concept cartoons present different scenarios for discussing materials and the potential range of viewpoints (including common misconceptions and the scientifically correct response). Get your pupils to consider what they think about the different opinions in each scenario. It will help them to justify their own ideas and clarify their scientific thinking.  

You can even design your own concept cartoons based on the needs of your children or to assess a particular piece of understanding. Or why not let your children have a go at creating their own?   

We'd love to know how these ideas worked for you. You can tell us on Twitter, join our Facebook Staffroom Group or send us an email! 

Image credit: Children and their teacher sorting recycling into plastics, paper and glass by Dmytro Zinkevych via Shutterstock SL