A bouncy ball may seem like a simple toy, but for a group of Penn State graduate students, it has become a powerful way to help children and families understand how materials behave - and how science connects to everyday life.
Through "Mission: Materials Science," a long-running outreach initiative supported by Penn State's U.S. National Science Foundation-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), graduate students from across disciplines have partnered with museum educators and media professionals to transform materials science research into free, hands-on learning activities. The newest collection, recently launched online, adds four experiments designed for children ages 8 to 13.
MRSEC and the Franklin Institute have partnered on projects since 2021. The project began as a collaboration with the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, where MRSEC researchers helped create tabletop exhibits for museum visitors. Over time, it evolved into a digital platform of do-it-yourself activities that can be completed at home or used in classrooms with commonly available supplies. Today, the initiative is led in close partnership with Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania.
The four new activities explore how materials store and exchange energy, how their structure affects behavior and how environmental conditions can change material properties. Experiments such as mixing bouncy ball recipes, building candy crystals and modeling how ocean chemistry affects coral-like materials were designed to encourage young learners to test ideas, observe results and connect science to the real world.
