Learn how to use tech to enhance your science lesson demonstrations, with Mark Anderson.
Clear explanations and purposeful modelling lie at the heart of effective teaching, whether that’s in science, maths, English or music. For science teachers, whether they are breaking down abstract processes or demonstrating how to balance a chemical equation, they rely on clear carefully chosen examples to help students build a secure understanding.
When used thoughtfully, technology can support this process. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) advises that technology should be used in ways ‘informed by effective pedagogy.’ 1 In science, this means selecting tools that help pupils understand ideas more clearly – whether by helping to visualise the invisible, guide step-by-step modelling or give opportunities to explain ideas aloud or in writing. Let’s take a look at some ways to use technology to enhance explanation and modelling in science teaching that are grounded in classroom practice and backed by cognitive science.
Bringing cognitive science into modelling
Strong explanations and models do three things:
- Break things down – working step by step, with worked examples
- Build on what pupils already know – linking old and new ideas
- Make ideas tangible – with diagrams, demonstrations or analogies.
Technology, when used with purpose, enhances these strands. However, the tool must serve the teaching (not the other way around) so that the technology enhances rather than dictates learning.
Four ways to use technology to support your modelling and explanations
1. Pupils explaining science to deepen their learning
One of the simplest but most powerful strategies to deepen learning is to ask students to explain something themselves. Years ago, I covered a Year 11 chemistry lesson and told the class, “I don’t understand moles. Could you explain it to me?” I asked them to use the Puppet Pals app to create animated explanations. What followed was striking: students who had struggled with the concept of moles produced thoughtful, creative models. The process of teaching helped them understand.
This is a classic example of the protégé effect. When students prepare to teach, they clarify their understanding and think more deeply. Technology can support this brilliantly. With tools like Explain Everything or even just screen recording, pupils can build short explanations, narrate over images or diagrams and present their thinking in accessible ways.
Primary idea
Pupils use an app to create a short explanation of an idea, combining pictures, voice and text. The focus is on sequencing their thoughts, selecting what matters and expressing themselves clearly.
Secondary idea
Students use a stylus and screen recorder to explain a worked example or process aloud. This helps clarify their own thinking and can be shared with peers or revisited later for revision.
These kinds of tasks also offer valuable opportunities for checking understanding. Watching or listening to a student explain something back, whether through a video or live demo, gives powerful insight into what they do and don’t yet grasp. The teacher’s role is to respond in the moment.
2. Live modelling using digital ink and visualisers
Sometimes, the best explanations are live. Using a stylus in OneNote, Explain Everything or Freeform allows you to walk through a process step by step – highlighting, drawing, annotating and talking through your decisions. Students see not just the outcome, but also how to get there. This is especially powerful when combined with a ‘think-aloud’. Explaining what you’re doing and why makes the process transparent. An additional benefit is that you can share these recordings for revision or to support absent students.
Visualisers also remain a teacher’s best friend. Whether demonstrating how to set up a practical, annotating a graph or modelling how to structure a response, visualisers make modelling more visible. They work well alongside traditional methods and their simplicity means there’s little learning curve.
Primary example
A teacher uses a visualiser to show how to organise a results table, making links between what was observed and how it’s recorded.
Secondary example
A teacher models how to approach a six-mark question using a stylus, drawing out key points, underlining command words and discussing misconceptions.
3. Explaining change and process: using images, video and animation
Some processes are too slow, fast or abstract to demonstrate in real time. Here, video, animation and time lapse can make all the difference. For example, a short time-lapse video created on an iPad might condense a long practical into a shareable clip. Animation can reveal the steps in a cycle or a process more clearly than static images.
Presentation tools like PowerPoint, Google Slides or Keynote also allow for simple step-by-step reveals. This helps reduce cognitive load and supports dual-coding, combining verbal explanation with visuals. But restraint is key. Avoid overloading slides and keep things clean and clear. Just include enough information to support the idea.
4. Concrete and dual-coded explanations
Abstract ideas are harder to learn. This is where dual coding can help – pairing words with meaningful visuals. A stylus and tablet or even a pencil and visualiser enables you to sketch live as you talk. If you’re not a dab hand with sketching icons, many tools such as OneNote and PowerPoint come loaded with many icons, or alternatively, you could use AI to generate them for you. Whether you’re using analogies, sketches or diagrams, it’s about making the idea feel real. Consider how you could compare a process to something in everyday life, then support that with a labelled diagram. The combination helps pupils build a mental model they can recall later.
Top tips for enhancing your modelling
Harness AI to support explanations and modelling
While not a magic fix, tools like Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini can offer value in supporting planning and modelling. For instance, you might consider asking Copilot to suggest different ways to explain a tricky idea, generate sentence starters or create a sample paragraph that pupils then critique or improve.
These tools can help you to plan out worked examples or break down steps in a method. You can also use these approaches to help reduce preparation time and broaden the range of models available. The key though is human judgment. You decide what works and what to adapt.
Support CFU with technology
Checking for understanding (CFU) is central to good teaching. In the context of explanation and modelling, it’s about gauging in the moment whether pupils are following the idea as it unfolds. Technology can help. For example, a teacher using a visualiser might pause and ask, “What would I do next?” o demonstrate a pupil’s work to prompt class discussion. Using a mini-whiteboard app allows every pupil to respond at once, helping you spot and fill gaps in understanding. Stylus-based apps let pupils annotate an example and share their thinking instantly.
The point is not to test but to tune in – and technology helps make that possible.
Keep it simple
It’s tempting to do too much. But often, a clear diagram on a tablet, a short screen recording, or a well-timed pause and question is all that’s needed. The best explanations aren’t flashy; they’re clear, purposeful and focused. Choose the right tool for the job. If it helps make thinking visible or helps a student explain something back, it’s probably worth using.
Summary
Used well, technology can support great explanations and effective modelling in science lessons. Whether through digital ink, animation, screen recording or a simple visualiser, these tools help make the abstract concrete, the complex clear and the invisible visible.
Keep it simple. Keep it intentional. And above all, keep it focused on helping pupils to understand.
References
- Education Endowment Foundation (2021) ‘Using Digital Technology to Improve Learning’. Available at: https://d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net/production/eef-guidance-reports/digital/EEF_Digital_Technology_Guidance_Report.pdf?v=1720017015
Author
Mark is a global speaker, EdTech expert, trainer, blogger, author and key note speaker, known as the ICT Evangelist. He has over 20 years of experience in the classroom. Mark is the head of education at NetSupport, an Independent Thinking associate, an MIE Expert and fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching. His latest book can be found at edtechplaybook.com.
