3 Strategies to Effectively Teach Science Vocabulary

When I began teaching, I started science lessons by teaching vocabulary first. I would introduce definitions, and then we would dive into activities. I quickly realized that this wasn’t working—my students needed to engage with the content first and build context to help new vocabulary stick. One day, I decided to try something different: I pulled out a tangled strand of broken Christmas lights and let the students explore them, feel them, test the wires, compare working strands with broken ones, swap out bulbs and batteries.

Then, after all that exploring, I stopped to explain. “Remember how we got the light to turn on? That’s called a complete circuit. Electricity could flow all the way through. The broken one? That was an incomplete circuit.” My students learned the new vocabulary in context, and the definition stuck because my students had already built a mental model through exploration. The new term was the label for what they had just discovered. I now rely on strategies that get my students engaging with new content and exploring scientific concepts before I introduce new vocabulary.

STRATEGIES TO EFFECTIVELY TEACH SCIENTIFIC VOCABULARY

1. Total Physical Response (TPR). TPR is all about combining motion with content. James Asher developed TPR in the 1960s to support English language learners. Science can often feel like a new language to students, so TPR is a perfect fit.

In my class, we create motions for keywords in every unit. Sometimes it’s simple: “increase” gets a thumbs-up and “decrease” gets a thumbs-down. Other times, we turn keywords into a chant or a full-body routine.

One of my students’ favorites from our unit on Earth’s processes was this: “Weathering breaks it, erosion takes it, deposition drops it.” For weathering, we mimic breaking with our hands. For erosion, we move our hands in a wave-like motion. For deposition, we lower our hands to “drop” something.

These movements stick in their brains because multiple senses and muscle memory are involved. It’s not just hearing a word, it’s experiencing it.

2. Illustrated morphology. To help students understand new words, you can rely on morphology and break words apart, showing students how each part has a specific meaning. By adding illustrations to the mix, you can more deeply engage students’ thinking and help ensure that they remember the words.

When my students first came across the word biotic, we talked about how bio means life. I choose a student to write it on an index card and draw a picture to represent the word, and then we add it to our morphology wall. Soon, students are connecting it to new words like biodiversity. I’ll hear, “Hey! Bio means life. So is that the diversity of life?” That’s when you know it’s clicking.

This year, after learning bio, students burst into my room excited because their ELA teacher said the word biography, and they instantly knew it was a story about someone’s life. That’s cross-curricular vocabulary transfer. That’s learning.

Science makes morphology easier because so many words share roots. Think about the prefix de, which means “remove” or “reverse.” You’ll see it in decomposer, deforestation, and deposition. Teach it once, and it sticks again and again.

When students can decode unfamiliar words using roots and affixes, they gain tools to independently build meaning, something research strongly supports.

3. Interactive word walls and anchor charts. The spaces around your students can be leveraged for learning. Interactive word walls and anchor charts can help students quickly reference vocabulary and visually connect the content to the terms. Word walls and anchor charts are pretty similar, but word walls usually live directly on the wall, while anchor charts are created on poster paper.

Word walls and anchor charts are tools we build with students to help connect vocabulary and concepts to what we’re learning. They should be clearly organized, include visuals, and actually reflect the work happening in the classroom, not just fill up space. These aren’t store-bought or premade. They grow with us.

The only real difference between the two is size and placement. Anchor charts are usually created on chart paper, while word walls live directly on the wall and take up more space. Both should be interactive and student-involved. In my class, we might use these to show the steps of the water cycle, diagrams of Earth’s rotation, or a chart of physical properties of matter. Sometimes I set up the structure ahead of time with a title, a T-chart, or sentence stems, and students help fill in the rest. They might add drawings or sticky notes, or even bring something from home, like the times when a student brought in a marble to represent a solid or a photo of a desert for our ecosystems chart.

What makes these tools useful is that they reflect our learning. When students look at them, they remember the lesson and use it to support their thinking. They’re not just decoration. They’re a part of our learning environment that students actually use.

When you teach vocabulary after students have experienced the concept, and reinforce it with TPR, morphology, and interactive visuals, it doesn’t just help with definitions. It helps with retention, comprehension, and long-term academic success.