Learning the Language of Biology

Abstract

This Learning Cycle activity is designed for first year undergraduates in an introductory biology classroom.  Memorization is one way to learn the huge number of technical terms found in biology textbooks, but there is an easier method:  learn to speak the language.  This activity provides students with the background and skills to recognize common roots, prefixes, and suffixes used in biology courses, and provides strategies for organizing vocabulary into logical categories.  Students who complete the activity should achieve the learning objective of interpreting commonly used biological terms by recognizing and comparing roots, prefixes, and suffixes.  In doing so, they will practice the process skill of information processing by interpreting, manipulating, and transforming information to identify patterns in the vocabulary used in introductory biology courses.

Level: Undergraduate
Setting: Classroom
Activity Type: Learning Cycle
Discipline: Biology
Course: General Biology
Keywords: prefix, suffix, root words, organism, saccharide, monomer, glycolysis, allele, enzyme, phosphate, chromosome