Using ET to articulate a question

Yesterday (Thursday) the E1 teachers were thinking about how the "energy story" and the "force story" for the mousetrap car might be different for a car with a longer lever and a car for a short lever.
This led to a whole-class discussion about what features can be represented in energy theater - Can amounts of different types of energy be represented?  Can the rate of energy transfer be represented?  At this point Joe asks the following question:

Do you have a model wherein force plays into an energy theater?  Because the piece that I feel like I'm kind of missing is the direct relationship between force and energy, right.  So if you have more force do you get more actors?  If you have a greater force?

I was intrigued that Joe asked his question in terms of energy theater.  The more I think about this the more it makes sense.  Energy theater makes many abstract concepts concrete.  It is easier to ask questions and to communicate ideas in terms of concrete concepts than in terms of abstract concepts.  I feel like Joe was able to ask a very abstract question 'Does a stronger force lead to more energy?' in a very concrete way by asking it in terms of energy theater.

Getting students to feel comfortable asking questions and sharing ideas is a big part of science classes.  Many times I've seen students struggle to articulate a question or an idea to the point that they are ready to give up rather than continue struggling to communicate.  I like that energy theater gives us a shared, concrete context in which to ground our conversations.  It helps students and instructors communicate while they are still developing a shared scientific vocabulary.