What Do You Think Is Happening That We Cannot See?

After 17 years of teaching science, I thought I had a pretty good handle on getting students to understand complicated concepts. But when I created my Gases & Ground investigation, something different happened.

This was the first lab I had really designed around the Ambitious Science Teaching framework. Students were developing models, gathering evidence, discussing their ideas, and revising their explanations.

And something kind of magical happened.

My students got it. I mean, they REALLY got it. On a level I honestly hadn't seen before.

And I think one simple question played an enormous role.

What Do You Think Is Happening That We Cannot See?

Think about how much of science involves processes we can't directly observe. Maybe something is invisible. Maybe it's happening at the molecular level. Maybe it's enormous, like a planetary system, or unfolds over millions of years.

Whatever the reason, students are often expected to explain things they've never actually seen. And that's where I started using what I call a zoom-in bubble.

The idea is simple. When students are developing a scientific model, I ask them to identify a part of the system where something important is happening, but where the process itself isn't visible.

Then I ask: “What do you think is happening there that we cannot see?”

Students draw a bubble connected to that part of their model and use it to represent what they think is happening behind the scenes. It gives them a place to explain the why and how, not just label what's happening.

And That's Where PhET Comes In!

During my Gases & Ground investigation, students were trying to understand how greenhouse gases affect energy movement through Earth's atmosphere. They could tell me greenhouse gases trap heat. But what was actually happening?

We used the PhET Molecules and Light simulation to investigate what happens when infrared radiation encounters different gas molecules. Suddenly, a process students couldn't ordinarily observe became something they could explore.

They collected evidence, compared interactions, and used what they'd discovered to create zoom-in bubbles showing how energy interacted with different gases. Then we used the PhET Greenhouse Effect simulation to zoom back out and revisit the larger climate model.

And that's where I noticed something different. Students weren't just repeating that greenhouse gases trap heat. They could explain what was happening to the energy and connect those tiny molecular interactions to the larger system.

They understood the science behind the vocabulary.

Try This With Your Students

The next time students are building a model, look for a place where their explanation could go deeper. Ask: “What do you think is happening here that we cannot see?”

Have them draw a zoom-in bubble showing their thinking. Then give them opportunities to investigate, gather evidence, and revisit that explanation.

A good simulation can be especially powerful because it makes an otherwise unobservable process accessible. But the real learning comes from what students do with that evidence.

And the beauty of this strategy? It works far beyond greenhouse gases. From molecular interactions to plate tectonics to planetary motion, there are countless opportunities to ask students to explain what's happening beyond what they can directly observe.

If you'd like to see this approach woven into a complete investigation, my Gases & Ground climate inquiry includes the PhET simulations, student modeling activities, and teacher prompts I used to guide this work.

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do as science teachers is ask students to explain what they cannot see. And then give them the tools to figure it out.