Practicing Science Together generally rejects making science classes about memorization, but building blocks like multiplication tables and phonics can reduce cognitive load. Similarly, word roots give learners the power to decode texts and new concepts, knowing that we have some sense of what’s about to happen.
There is no better place to talk about word roots than when introducing “dendrology,” which is the subset of botany dedicated to trees. “Dendron” means “tree” in ancient Greek. When the root goes up on the word root wall alongside “logia” (study of), we can start recognizing it in words like rhododendron, dendrophile, dendrometer and dendrolite (a fossilized plant that resembles a mineral). That’s a much bigger impact than learning just one word. In fact, science vocabulary, in my mind belongs in the world of word roots and etymology.
I wish I’d taken a photo of my Word Root wall mid-year to illustrate how many words 5th graders can build out of a few months of Life Science roots. I’ll tell you right now that learning the microbial names and finding out that “cocci” are balls and “bacilli” are sticks…well, it gets touchy. Especially if you’re studying the archaea and it’s all about Thermococcus and Halococcus. (Oh dear, yes, these words mean balls that can be very hot and balls that can be super salty. Let me keep my face perfectly blank.) Actually, while we’re at it, Archaea comes from the same root as archive, meaning ancient or primitive.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/archon
Etymonline is an incredibly fun resource if you’re into words at all. It’s fun for kids to click around and connect words.