I find that students get a better understanding of solid state structure by playing with models.  I give students two fifty-minute class periods to look at the structure types that we discuss in class.  This is an old in-class activity that needs massive updating.

In this activity,  students look at the holes in different lattice types (simple cubic, ccp, hcp) and the CsCl, NaCl, CdI₂, ZnS, and spinel structure types.

In the past, I have not directly figured out if students did this other than going around the class and having students explain stuff to me and asking them related exam questions.