Chemistry Vocabulary practice is typically skipped in high school physical science classes in favor of other activities. But science vocabulary is imperative for science literacy. I think we can all agree that vocabulary is essential, so why do so many secondary science teachers assume writing out definitions is enough practice?
If you 100% agree you need to include more vocabulary practice in your chemistry class, check out my vocabulary practice activities!
Why Science Vocabulary Practice is so Important to Chemistry
Picture this: your chugging along with your chemistry curriculum. You think your students are doing GREAT only to grade their assessments and realize they struggle more than you thought. But are they? Your students were able to solve the problems yesterday. So maybe the issue isn’t their science skills. We may have underserved our students by skipping over vocabulary practice. How can we expect students to perform well if they get confused while reading the question?
What you can do to help your students learn science vocabulary
Let’s face it, introducing science vocabulary in our notes is not providing enough exposure to these terms to our students. Below is a list, in no particular order, of different ways that I reinforce new vocabulary terms with my students.
Vocabulary Lists Frontload Science Vocabulary
Studies show that writing something down helps us remember it better than just hearing it. No matter how your students create a vocab list, the physical act of writing definitions helps students process what they’ve learned. I give my students a short vocabulary list at the beginning of each weak and I expect them to write out the definitions- their own or copied from google. I do not accept typed definitions because typing does not provide the same neural processes that handwriting does.
Online Practice to Reinforce Science Vocabulary
The best part of online practice for vocabulary? Immediate feedback.
I absolutely love Quizlet for vocabulary recall practice. You can, of course, use other vocabulary programs if you dislike Quizlet. I’ve used Kahoot, Study.com, Socrative, and others. I find Quizlet the most useful for my teaching style.
I create my own Quizlet sets and link them in Schoology for my students. Many of my bus riders have joined my Quizlet class and will go over definitions on the ride home. It’s a great resource.
Another benefit of Quizlet is the ability to “go live” and play vocabulary games with your whole class. I do this when there’s downtime or right before a quiz.
I’ve also been trying out Digital Crosswords. I make them in google sheets and embed them in Schoology as a Google Assignment. The squares turn green when students enter correct letters. Again, immediate feedback. My students have enjoyed them so far. They know, before they hit submit, how well they did. It’s a pretty low-stress activity for students with the bonus that you know they are reinforcing vocabulary.
Low-Tech Vocabulary Practice
Who remembers good-old flashcards? 🙋I survived high school using flashcards. Looking back, I wish I had developed some other study skills, but at the same time, knowing the vocabulary set me up for success most of the time.
I have a stack of note cards at the front of my room available to students. I do not assign flashcards- though some of my colleagues do, usually for social studies or English. Students use my note cards to make flashcards for both my class as well as other classes. I don’t mind if my resources are used for other classes if they are helping my students build good study habits.
In my classroom, I use my vocabulary practice activities whenever my students don’t have access to the internet- which is Monday through Thursday. They are an optional practice activity if students are finished with their assignment or just want a break from traditional practice.
If students are particularly struggling with their assignments, I always recommend students snag a vocab practice set to review vocabulary. Word problems are always a struggle, but understanding the vocabulary can make tackling them much easier!
Close Reading will help your students apply their vocabulary
According to Kathy Renfrew, Education Specialist at Wade Institute for Science Education Initiative, “close reading in science means getting our students to focus on the text with intentionality. If we are reading in science, we are reading for information, often trying to locate additional evidence to support or verify the evidence we found in an investigation.”
In middle school, this might look like reading out loud from the textbook and discussing the meaning behind the words. I’ve been there and done that. We would skim the text first and predict what we were about to read. I would pause often and ask my students questions about the text. It was a wonderful experience, but high school?
I struggle with spending time reading aloud from the actual textbook with my high school students. I almost feel that doing so would be insulting to them. Not to mention that our current textbook is not written well for first-year chemistry students. But science literacy is so important.
So? What do you do to get students to read and locate textual evidence? I use articles from a variety of sources. I wish I did this weekly, but I’m going to be real with you- I do this maybe once a quarter.
When I’m preparing to close read I speak with their English teachers so I can use the same techniques they use in their classrooms to close read. I want to help reinforce those skills. Then, I find a current article that relates to what we’re discussing in class (or a major current event), make a copy for each student, and then we close read the article together or in pairs. I explain that this will be helpful for when they have to do scientific research for me later.
I often want to skip close reading because I feel like there are so many other things I could be doing- but I am always am glad I did it afterward. Kids get inspired by the real-world science we read about and ask amazing questions. They learn that part of scientific literacy is looking up words they don’t understand but also are so proud of themselves when they understand most of the jargon included in the articles we read. It really is such an enriching experience and reinforces the idea that science vocabulary is critical.
Greek + Latin Roots enhance vocabulary study
The number one thing, hands down, that helped me the most on my SATs and AP exams in high school was taking a year of Latin. I learned so many Latin roots that I was able to infer the meaning of new terms I came across. No, I did not attend a small private school. Quite the opposite. I attended a large public school. Latin was taught once a day by a retired teacher. I learned a lot from her and am thankful I had that experience.
Most of our students aren’t so lucky to have a retired Latin teacher take time out of her day during the school year to teach a small group of nerdy students. So what can you do? Teach Latin (and greek) roots to your students.
I give my anatomy students a list of scientific roots at the beginning of the year. I explain to them that we will be learning loads of new vocabulary and that root words can really help them break down these new words to understand their meaning. Then, I have a “root word of the day” posted for my anatomy students every day. I make sure it’s a root that applies directly to what we’re learning about. Sometimes we discuss the root and sometimes we don’t.
For my chemistry students, I break down vocabulary words as we learn them. Sometimes I will directly tell them what the root means and sometimes I will ask them to predict what the word means based on the roots. For example, “aqueous” is typically a new vocabulary word when we discuss reactions. Many students have no idea what it might mean, but when I ask “Can anyone tell me what aqua might mean?” Many of them say “water” right away. And then we now are something is aqueous that means it’s in water.
Along with exposing my students to Latin and Greek Roots, I have a Greek alphabet hanging on my wall. They will be exposed to many greek letters throughout their science and math coursework, so it’s a great reference for them.
Related Articles:
If you’d like to take a deep dive into any of the techniques I discussed, here are a couple of articles:
3 Scientific Links Between Handwriting Your Notes and Memory
Close Reading in Science Deepens Understanding
Teaching Greek and Latin Roots
Authentically Teaching Greek & Latin Roots For Secondary Vocabulary
If you’re interested in a quick and easy way to incorporate vocabulary practice, please check out my Vocabulary Practice Activities for Chemistry.
Vocabulary practice is really important for the study of science. And banking on students remembering some words from middle school is probably not a good idea. Explicitly teaching vocabulary along with engaging activities will enrich your classroom and expand your student’s scientific literacy skills.
Interested in visual chemistry vocabulary? Try Particle Diagrams!
3 Easy and Powerful ways to use Particle Diagrams in Chemistry
