About this activity
Eight terms that block comprehension of lab science text, each with a definition written in ordinary words: photosynthesis — plants turning light into chemical energy; homeostasis — keeping internal conditions steady; catalyst — speeds up a reaction without being used up; ionic bond — electrons transferred between atoms; covalent bond — electrons shared. These are not general vocabulary; they are the specific words a textbook assumes and a struggling reader stalls on.
How to use it in a session
Contrast the pairs. Ionic and covalent bonds differ by one word — transferred against shared — and teaching them separately produces two half-memories that get swapped on a test. Ask the student to use each term in a sentence about something concrete rather than to define it, since a definition can be recited and a sentence cannot. Bring the actual textbook page if you have it: fifteen minutes spent on the terms in the passage the student is stuck on is worth more than the list in isolation.
What to listen for
Listen for morphology being used. A student who can see photo and synthesis, or equi and librium, has a strategy that works on the next hundred terms as well as these eight. Watch for definitions recited without meaning — a student who says homeostasis is keeping internal conditions steady and cannot say what would happen without it has memorised a string.
Carrying it home
Science vocabulary is best reviewed against the notes the student already has. Ask them to explain one term to a family member who does not know it, which is a much harder and more revealing task than repeating the definition.
Questions
- Why is science vocabulary a speech-language target?
- Because comprehension of academic text is a language skill. A student with adequate reasoning and thin semantic knowledge fails science for language reasons, and that is squarely in scope.
- Is it free?
- Yes, no account needed to use the cards.
- What grades is this for?
- Ninth through twelfth, matched to high school biology and chemistry coursework.