Forums

I have my high school students (including ESL) create a 5 minute podcast about one Science concept. They are on "All This Science" https://www.spreaker.com/show/all-this-science Cheers, Dr. C (Marshall)

My mother - who is also an educator - taught me this valuable lesson regarding teaching vocabulary. It takes 17+ exposures to a word to cement its meaning! I ensure that students are exposed to the word many times in multiple ways (hearing it, seeing it in the textbook and other course materials, writing it in their assignments, etc.). I teach online college science courses - I use bold font for the key vocabulary to further emphasize the term. 

https://www.thoughtco.com/vocabulary-reps-4135612 

Hello! It depends on what grade we are teaching science vocabulary to. If this is for older middle school students, I would definitley say that a sort of memory game would be fun and interactive. You could place post-it notes on, for example, the tools in a science lab, and have the students study them. After they've studied it, you can remove the post-its and they can go around and name tools or any other scientific phenomena that you might have on display.

I found this picture online and thought it was a great idea and way to learn science vocabulary.

Attachments

handsonvocabmix.png (0.52 Mb)

Danielle, 

I am completing a graduate course right now where we spent a week talking about vocabulary instruction and ideas for how to do that. I would check out trying to do a word wall, either as an entire class or individualized. If you check out the below website it has some information about what this might look like in a science classroom. 

http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/word_walls

• Hold off on vocab definitions till the last possible moment in the lesson.  Start using the words on day 1, explain as neccesary.  When it comes time for definitions they will not need to look them up or ask you, they will already know the meaning.  kind of like learning a foreign language when you hear a certain word being used you can infer the meaning.
• Draw pictures/diagrams to accompany definitions (students remember a lot from pictures); analogies can be used

Utilize kahoots or quizzes as a method for review. I also have students look up the definitions for words, then use it in a sentance, and draw an image that illustrates the meaning of the word. 

I have used Quizlet Live with vocabulary words and students seem to love it! I've also created warm-ups where students essentially play Taboo with vocabulary words. You would pair students in partners and one of them faces the board while the other faces away. You then show the word on the board and they try to describe it to their partner and then they switch for the next word. I have found that students are generally really engaged in this activity. These are both engaging ways that get students interacting with the vocabulary and great for getting them to intially be familiar with the terms. 

Hi Vivian, It's true that teaching vocabulary in science is an integral part of understanding and it should not be left out. There are multiple strategies that can be used to help student acquire. Here are a couple of strategies I use with my high schoolers. For every unit, I decide on ten to twelve words that are essential vocabulary that will be needed for a student to have maximum understanding of the subject matter. I share these words with my resource room teacher prior to the start of the unit so that he or she can help preteach vocabulary to students that are on an individualized education plan (IEP). At the beginning of the year, I have all of my students make a science lab notebook. One of the sections in the back of the notebook is a glossary of the essential vocabulary. At the beginning of every lesson, I introduce one of those terms that best relate to lesson. My students then define that term using the [url=http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/frayer-model]Frayer method[/url]. An example of one of my student's notebooks can be found [url=https://betterlesson.com/lesson/resource/3173388/essential-vocabulary]here[/url]. One reason I like the Frayer method as a strategy to teach vocabulary is that it allows for multiple ways to use the word. We define it, use it in a sentence, and draw a picture or [url=http://thesciencepenguin.com/2013/12/science-solutions-vocabulary.html]word drawing[/url] representing that word. We can also give an opposite of the word, examples of the word if it is a general term used to describe more specific words, or establish some word play to help students remember a specific concept. This exercise should generally take between three to five minutes. Another method that sometimes proves helpful in addition to the Frayer method is the teaching of [url=http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/prefix/]Latin and Greek prefixes, root words, and suffixes[/url]. Once students have learned to recognize certain common root words as well as their accompanying suffixes and prefixes, they have a best chance of inferring the meaning of unknown science terms. Here's an [url=http://www.osymigrant.org/ROMBeginningMiddleandEnd.pdf]example[/url] of several common root words, but if you do an simple Internet search you can find more. You can also define your essential vocabulary in terms of root words. The use of concept maps are nice when trying to show relationships between words so that students can understand how the use of multiple essential vocabulary helps explain a concept. The Learning Center has several great resources that discuss the use of concept maps in the science classroom. This is one [url=https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUSE/SEAL/Reports_Papers/Vanides_CM.pdf]example[/url]. Cloze Reading is another strategy that is best described as fill-in-the-blank. This has been a tried and true strategy used by both foreign language and science instructors alike. It provides students with a list of essential vocabulary and a reading passage to complete. Here is an [url=https://betterlesson.com/community/document/2459299/cloze-ing-in-on-science-pdf]example[/url]. Putting it all Together is an exercise I use as a way to summarizes a lesson and have students reinforce the concept they are learning while using the essential vocabulary. Students are given a writing prompt and several essential vocabulary terms which to use. They complete this exercise in their lab notebooks and turn it in as an exit ticket. I use their responses to gauge their understanding so I know where best to proceed the following day. For example, after a lesson about photosynthesis, I might ask students to explain the main goal of photosynthesis using the following words: oxygen, carbon dioxide, light, water, and plants. Students might respond with something like the following: Plants use light, water, and carbon dioxide to make their own food. Oxygen is produced as a by-product of photosynthesis. However, there are many way to use the words to show understanding. In my opinion, it is best for educators to pull from many of these instructional strategies as using only one or two tends to limited the depth of student understanding and, of course, they should be used in conjunction with other methods of best practices so that teachers aren't just teaching rote memorization skills. How do other teachers tackle vocabulary with their classes?

I use quizlet as well.  What I really like about this site is that students can create an answer in the quizlet that is specific tpo them.  Helpful mnemonics that they can remember, a line from a song or poem that uses the vocabulary or any other trick that is helpful to that student.  I do encourage the students to use their quizlet to make a quiz to give to their tablemates - this is a great conversation starter and a great way to have students see different ways to think throuogh the vocabulary.

Vocabulary is so important in a science classroom.  If students are introduced from day ones, they will have a better understanding of how the words work and are aware of how the process of science works.  Knowledge of root words, from Latin or another foreign language a student might be learning, goes a long way in a science class room.  Deciphering a word is a key the the way a  vocabulary word is integrated into a concept.  For instance, the metric system has vocabulary like centimeter - which is 1/100 of a meter.  They way I have taught students to remember this word is to ask the question: how many pennies make a dollar?  The answer is 100 - which translates to 100 cents - so 100 'cent'imeters equals one meter.

Hi Erica, 

I totally think this is such a cool idea. I would like to be able to do this, if only I had a large enough space! I have noticed that I do not spend enough time reviewing vocabulary with students. Are there any other ways you like to incorporate vocabulary practice in your day to day lessons?