[This post is part of our series, Engineering Practices in the Classroom, which explores what engineering practices are, why they matter, and what they look like in real classrooms. Today, we’re focusing on another core engineering practice: exploring the properties and uses of materials to inform design decisions.]
Everything humans have ever made—from the earliest stone tools to running shoes and satellites—depended on choosing the right materials. Engineers spend a lot of time exploring how materials behave so they can match those properties to a specific goal. Bridges must be made of materials that are strong and durable. A raincoat needs something flexible and waterproof.
We all make materials decisions every day without realizing it. Hanging a poster, you choose between tape, tacks, or adhesive strips. Caught in a downpour without an umbrella, you reach for something plastic to cover your head instead of paper. These choices are guided by a lifetime of experience with materials and their properties.
Understanding how different materials behave is just as important for young learners.
Why students need time to explore materials
Imagine all the things kids might do with a piece of aluminum foil. They can try bending or folding it, stretching it, dunking it in water, crumpling, smoothing, shaking, drawing on it, cutting it into ribbons, shining a light on it.
Class time is limited, and testing materials may look a lot like playing around. But with a little structure and guidance to help them notice and compare properties, these opportunities to experiment give students the experience they need to make intentional decisions when they are solving problems later on.
Exploring materials changes the way learners experience failure
When students have time to explore materials before building, they start to see each test as a fact-finding mission, not a win or lose scenario. If something doesn’t work, the next question isn’t “What did I do wrong?” — it’s “What did this material do?”
That thinking re-frames failure from a disappointing outcome to successfully gathering new evidence, and critiques of the design feel purposeful rather than personal.
In the clip below, notice how the teacher focuses on the materials letting in too much or too little light in this nightlight challenge.
Students examine a nightlight design and discuss which materials works well, and which failed.
In-class exploration builds access and channels of communication
Not every student enters the classroom with the same familiarity with materials. Exploring materials together gives students a base level of information.
At the same time, it creates a shared experience with common terminology that students draw from during design. We love this short clip of students debating the definition of insulator -- does it let heat escape or keep it in?
Elementary students debate the properties of an insulator material
as they work together to design a solar oven.
When students test materials side by side, words like absorbent, transparent, or insulating start to mean something tangible. Having a common vocabulary supports collaboration, explanation, and confidence later in the design process.
Science concepts become more than facts
Exploring materials also helps students connect science concepts to real-world problem solving. Ideas like absorption, insulation, or energy transfer become tangible when students can test and compare materials directly.
Over time, students gain intuition about how materials might behave. This is an essential step toward making evidence-based engineering decisions, but also a sign that they are internalizing a more scientific understanding of how the physical world works.
Middle school students participate in a discussion about heat transfer
Putting it into practice: Guided exploration before building
In classroom and afterschool settings, students build materials knowledge through hands-on investigation. Before jumping into construction, give students dedicated time to explore the materials they may use in an upcoming challenge.
Encourage students to test materials in concrete, observable ways. How does it feel? Is it rough, smooth, sticky, or flexible? What happens when it’s bent, stretched, twisted, or pressed? Does it absorb water or reflect light?
Simple experiments like these help students connect what they observe to how a material might perform in a design. Over time, this kind of exploration builds a foundation students can return to as they plan, test, and revise their ideas.
Resist the urge to step in and correct students when you know a material may not work. Name the thinking and ask them to reflect.
What Teachers Can Notice and Name
When students explore materials, some of the most important learning shows up in their words and decisions. Here are a few things to watch for and name in your classroom:
• Students describing how a material behaves. “It soaked through.” “It ripped.” "It didn't catch enough air."
• Students connecting properties to outcomes. “It leaked because it’s thin.”
• Students comparing materials. “This is more flexible than the piece of plastic.”
• Students revising choices based on evidence. “Let’s try something thicker.”
• Students explaining why they chose a material. “I want to use cardboard because it’s stronger.”
In moments like these, resist the urge to step in and correct students when you know a material may not work. Instead, name their thinking and invite them to reflect. Questions like “What did you notice about that material?” or “Why do you think that happened?” encourage deeper reasoning and reinforce that testing and revision are expected parts of engineering.
In this clip, we can see this kind of guidance in action as elementary students eagerly share what they discovered about materials that absorb or repel water. Notice how the educator focuses on the discovery and the properties by asking open-ended questions, and then names their thinking: “You are really using a lot of properties words.”
Elementary students share what they discovered about materials that absorb or repel water. They declare terry cloth the best, and speculate about why it absorbs water so well.
What students learn over time
With repeated opportunities to explore materials, students begin to recognize patterns. They learn which materials bend without breaking, which absorb or repel water, and which hold their shape under pressure. As they start predicting which materials might perform, they can use evidence to guide and defend their decisions.
Students come to see material choice as an intentional decision, one that can be tested, revised, and improved, rather than a guess or a fixed answer. Exploring the properties and uses of materials transforms “making” into purposeful engineering.
Ready to try it with your students? Here are a few next steps you can take...
- Download the tip sheet. This free resource includes concrete implementation suggestions.
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Visit our Learning Library. Watch videos of teachers guiding students as they experiment with materials
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Follow YES on social media for more ideas and engineering practices. @yesatmos
Up next in the Engineering Practices in the Classroom series: Considering problems in context
