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Recommended Reading
Two things that scientists do which make life difficult for learners:
1 Make up new words for new concepts (like electron or photosynthesis)
2 Use existing words in specific scientific ways (like cell, which has different specific meanings in both biology and physics, which have little to do with prison!)
In many ways the first is easier to deal with than the second – it is simply a case of learning new vocabulary, and sometimes the word tells you what it means. It is fairly simple to explain that photosynthesis is making something (synthesising) using light (as in photography).
The second can be much more difficult, as students need to learn to distinguish between the common meaning of the word and its precise scientific meaning.
My pet hate in this area is the term ‘particle’, as used in Key Stage 3 science.
When working as a scientist, one of my interests was in particle size determination – measuring the size of particles such as you would find in a bag of flour. Here the scientific word is very close to the common everyday meaning of ‘particle’.
In fundamental physics, elementary particles are things like quarks and electrons – the fundamental building blocks of the universe.
But at Key Stage 3, ‘particle’ has been pressed into service to mean atoms or molecules – neither the everyday particles we are familiar with, nor the elementary particles of physics.
The word has been chosen to avoid confusion between atoms and molecules, as the theory applies equally to both of these, and at this early stage pupils cannot be expected to distinguish between them. However it is a short shelf life word, as by Key Stage 4 students should know about atoms and molecules, and so this particular meaning of ‘particle’ is no longer required.
It would be good to have a specific word to cover atoms and molecules – but ‘particles’ has been selected for this purpose, and we will need to stick with it.
It does highlight the importance of getting to know the appropriate scientific vocabulary, using it accurately, and ensuring that pupils are clear on the concepts that the scientific words are used to convey.
