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Over half of all scientific and technical terms include Greek and Latin roots. This presentation will provide you with strategies and a format for teaching scientific and technical terms to students. I've also included lots of great resource links to help you plan your own lessons.
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CCSS: USING ROOT WORDS TO UNDERSTAND SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL VOCABULARY
Preparing Your Students for the Common Core
OBJECTIVES:• Identify teaching strategies Greek and Latin root words to
determine the meaning and context of scientific and technical vocabulary.
• Create a simple workflow for teaching scientific and technical vocabulary.
CCSS:CCSS.ELA.RST.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms and
other domain-specific phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context.
WHY STUDY ROOT WORDS?Preparing Students for the Common Core
WHY STUDY ROOT WORDS?Our brains are great pattern detectors. Greek and Latin root words use linguistic patterns that can help students identify the sound, meaning and spelling of the English words they help to form.
Over 60% of the words students encounter in their reading have recognizable parts that are formed from Greek and Latin roots.
Non-native English speaking students often speak Romance languages such as Spanish that are semantically related to Latin.
Student vocabulary instruction in elementary school is often characterized by the use of rimes (word patterns). Greek and Latin root words have consistent spelling patterns making it easy for students to make connections as they progress into middle and high school.
Studying Greek and Latin root words will help students learn scientific and technical vocabulary.
WHY STUDY ROOT WORDS?If students are to develop scientific literacy, they will need to become conversant in the use scientific and technical terms and phrases during investigative activities.
WHY STUDY ROOT WORDS?Learning scientific and technical vocabulary and its context will help students to develop a deeper understanding of content.
STRUCTURE OF WORDSPreparing Students for the Common Core
WORD STRUCTUREAny language evolves over time as it is influenced by the migrations of people speaking other languages into nations.
The English language began largely as an amalgam of several languages when three German tribes- the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes migrated to the British Isles over 1,000 years ago. Look at these similarities:
Credit: Philip Martin
Morning MorganBlood BludMiddle MittelWork WerkButter ButterNight Nacht
English German
WORD STRUCTUREThe Norman invasion of the British Isles from France in 1066 added French and its root language Latin to the British lexicon. Word of Norman-French origin include:
Money monnaie Chair chaiseRevenge revancheExercise exerciceInstall installerBrave braveRender rendre’Ticket ticketReject rejetterNavigate naviguerVisit visiterPromise promettre
English French
WORD STRUCTUREScientific and technical vocabulary made most of its inroads into the English language beginning in the Italian Renaissance and into the Enlightment as improvements in printing, navigation and shipbuilding made communication between people and the exchange of information easier.
WORD STRUCTUREThe structure of scientific and technical words is very similar to that of most other words in the English language with words having the following components:
Prefix The prefix appears at the beginning of the word. Prefixes such as un indicate ‘not’, re ‘again’ and mega ‘large.’
Stem Used to join the word together
Suffix The suffix appears at the end of the word and provides additional information. Suffixes such as itis indicate ‘inflammation,’ and ible ‘possible to’.
WORD STRUCTURE
The word Thorax comes to us from the Latin Thorax meaning ‘the breast.’
The term may also have originated from the Greek Thorakos which has a similar meaning.
Scientific and technical terms may consist of Greek, Latin and words from other languages that merely carry over into the English language with little change.
WORD STRUCTURE
The word Cephalothorax comes to us from the Greek Kephalo meaning ‘the head.’
This root is in turn combined in the English language with the Latin Thorax meaning ‘breast’ to indicate the fused head and thorax found in arachnids and crustaceans.
Scientific and technical terms may also be derived from combinations of two roots.
WORD STRUCTUREOther scientific and technical terms are formed from different combinations of Greek and Latin prefixes, roots and suffixes that are interchangeable between different words.
The word PHOTOSYNTHESIS comes to us as a late 19th century translation of the German word Photosynthese. This in turn is derived from the Greek photos meaning light, syn to join and thesis to set or place. The diagram below shows how the prefix, stem and suffix are joined into the word PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Photo + syn + thesis
Prefix Stem Suffix
The process in green plants and certain organisms by which carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
WORD STRUCTURE
PhotoPhotographPhotographyPhotoshopPhotogenic
Photo + syn + thesis
Prefix Stem Suffix
The process in green plants and certain organisms by which carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English LanguageSyn
SyntheticSynagogueSynapseSyndicate
ThesisParenthesisHypothesisAntithesisSynthesis
You can also identify similar words using these roots that students may already be familiar with from their prior background knowledge as you teach new terms.
WORD STRUCTUREIn preparing students for the CCSS Exams, you will need to have students identify key terms in their reading and you may then use the following workflow to develop these terms and concepts for students.
Have a good desk or unabridged dictionary handy. I’ve also identified some great online resources to help you prepare lessons for your students at the end of this presentation.
TEACHING VOCABULARYPreparing Students for the Common Core
HOW TO TEACH VOCABULARY1. Say the word to students using its correct pronunciation
2. Spell the word letter by letter
3. Repeat the word one more time
4. Discuss the etymology (origins) of the word
5. Discuss the usage of the word and the content of its definition
6. State an example sentence using the word
7. Repeat Steps 1-6 for the remaining words in the assignment
8. When students have completed all words in the assignment, check comprehension via an oral, written or digital quiz
STEP ONE:
Say the word to students using its correct pronunciation
MICROBIOLOGY
mīkrōˌbīˈäləjē/(mahy-kroh-bahy-ol-uh-jee)
STEP TWO:
Spell the word letter by letter as you correctly pronounce it
M I C R O B I O L O G Y
mīkrōˌbīˈäləjē/(mahy-kroh-bahy-ol-uh-jee)
STEP THREE:
Repeat the word one more time
MICROBIOLOGY
mīkrōˌbīˈäləjē/(mahy-kroh-bahy-ol-uh-jee)
STEP FOUR:
Discuss the etymology (origins) of the wordMicrobiology comes to us from the Greek Mikros meaning ‘small’, the Greek bio meaning ‘life’ and the Greek logy meaning ‘to speak.’ In modern English, the letter o is usually added to logy except when the prior root word ends in an l or a vowel (analogy, genealogy).
The word microbiology originated in the late 19th century with the combination of the English words ‘micro’ and ‘biology.’ This period of history was characterized by a prodigious amount of scientific discovery, especially relating to the work of Louis Pasteur.
STEP FIVE:
Discuss the usage of the word and the content of its definition
The term microbiology is used to describe the branch of biology that studies microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi and their effects on other living organisms.
STEP SIX:
State an example sentence using the word
The terms disinfection, sterilization and sanitation are terms associated with the control of pathogenic disease that students will encounter in a microbiology course.
STEP SEVEN:
Repeat Steps 1-6 for the remaining words in the assignment
STEP EIGHT:
When students have completed all words in the assignment, check comprehension via an oral, written or digital quiz
RESOURCESPreparing Students for the Common Core
RESOURCESClick HERE for an excellent online PDF of common Biology root words.
Learn That Word is an excellent resource for identifying tons of Greek and Latin root words. It also has many great examples.
Click HERE for Integrated Science’s list of Earth Science root words.
Click HERE for frequently used root words in Chemistry.
Check out the Online Etymology Dictionary for background information on word origins of all kinds.
Click HERE for a PDF Dictionary of Root Words and Combining Forms. It includes terms derived from many other languages as well as Greek and Latin.
Any good college-level desk or unabridged dictionary. I prefer the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, but I also have the Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary in my library as well to cross check words.
Go to VanHeckeScience.com for lots of great science teaching resources.
