Science Vocabulary: Middle School
Tier-3 science terms defined in student language for comprehension support.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Anchor each one to an experiment the student has actually run. Variable means nothing in the abstract and everything when it is the one thing they changed last week. The hypothesis-data-conclusion trio is worth doing as a sequence rather than three separate cards, since they describe three stages of the same process and students confuse them in exactly that order. Fifteen minutes covers the eight with examples.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- HintGive a clue about the word's category, what it does, or where you find it.Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two answers, the right one not always second.Log as cued
- ModelGive the answer in a sentence; the student says it back and uses it once more.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer items and start with the ones the student already knows.
Ask for the word in a sentence of the student's own, or a second example from the same group.
Matching IEP goal
Given vocabulary cards, Student will name, sort or define target words in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Eight science terms defined in student language: hypothesis, a testable prediction you make before the experiment; variable, the one thing you change on purpose; data, the measurements you actually recorded; conclusion, what the data lets you claim; adaptation, a trait that helps a species survive. These are the words a lab report is graded on, and students lose marks on them while understanding the science.
What to listen for
Listen for a conclusion that outruns the data. What the data lets you claim is a deliberately careful definition, and students routinely write conclusions their measurements do not support — which is a language problem about the word conclusion as much as a scientific one. Watch variable, which students often use for anything that changes rather than the one thing they changed.
Carrying it home
Any lab report or science homework supplies the vocabulary. Asking what the variable was, or what the data actually showed, is a two-minute conversation with direct effect on the marks.
What's in this activity
- hypothesis -- a testable prediction you make before the experiment
- variable -- the one thing you change on purpose
- data -- the measurements you actually recorded
- conclusion -- what the data lets you claim
- organism -- any living thing
- cell -- the smallest unit of a living thing
- energy transfer -- energy moving from one thing to another
- adaptation -- a trait that helps a species survive
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Sixth through eighth, matched to middle school science coursework.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all eight cards play free in the browser.
- Why is science vocabulary a speech-language target?
- Because comprehension of academic text and instruction is a language skill. A student who understands the science and misuses hypothesis and conclusion is losing marks for language reasons.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.