Science Roots: Latin and Greek Roots for Biology and Life Science

by Nancy Paula Hasseler

Hasseler Publishing

Science Roots is very similar in concept to Nancy Hasseler's Vocabulary Vine. This is a supplemental resource to use along with a high school biology or life science course to help students learn the vocabulary--a major aspect of these courses. While it might be used with any publisher's course, it is keyed to Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology (one of my 100 Top Picks!) and presents vocabulary in the sequence in which it appears in that text.

Science Roots works in the same fashion as Vocabulary Vine with students creating their vocabulary cards from lists of roots and example words provided. However, it differs in a few ways. First, the words taught and used as examples are not necessarily familiar as in Vocabulary Vine since these are biological and scientific terms--some very specialized. Second, while the spiral approach is used to some extent, word order is determined more by the textbook's sequence than by spiral connections.

As with Vocabulary Vine, the structure of the program is very simple. The book contains a Main List of 123 Study Roots. Each Study Root is followed by two or more (usually quite a few more) example words. Definitions are provided for the Study Roots and sometimes for the example words. Often, rather than being given a definition, students are given a refrence to Exploring Creation with Biology where they will find the definition. (Most other Biology texts will have a glossary or will define words within the text, and these might be found through the index.) Students are to create a 3 x 5 card for each Study Root. On each card they list the source language and meaning of the root, a few example words and their definitions, and a few additional example words without definitions.

Cards are filed in a box alphabetically for easy review. After the first week of creating cards and studying the words, students can begin to play some of the nine games described in Science Roots. This actually provides both review and a form of assessment for parents, although the games are optional.

To lighten the work load, you might want to purchase the Partially Completed Study Cards ($9.50) that is a companion to Science Roots. This is a set of cardstock pages to be cut out, that have the cards already preprinted with the root to be studied, some example words, and abbreviations for the source language. Students still need to write out definitions and add some extra example words at the bottom of the cards, but it's a real time saver.