Using Today's In the News to build Science Literacy

"Five Million Test-Tube Babies Born Worldwide  The birth of Louise Brown, the world's first so-called test-tube baby, made headlines around the globe in 1978. The use of in vitro fertilization (IVF), an assisted reproductive technique in which the egg is fertilizedoutside the womb and then implanted in the uterus, was considered controversial at the time, but in the decades since, it has been widely accepted and has helped millions of infertile couples to conceive. To date, experts estimate that five million test-tube babies have been born. About 350,000 enter the world every year.More ... Discuss"   Source:  In the News.   Accessed July 5, 2012.

The quote above is from In the News included at the left.  Because the left-hand column In the News section changes every day, the quote for today is included here so the correct In the News item stays with the post.

Parents can use newspaper and web articles on current science topics to strengthen their children's science literacy:

• Build vocabulary
• fertilization
• in vitro
• in vivo
• reproduction
• reproductive
• egg
• ovum
• conception
• conceive
• fertile
• infertile
• test-tube
• womb
• uterus
• reproductive system
• meiosis
• Capture student interest
• Use the picture
• Relate to a family that is trying IVF 
• Link to topics in the curriculum
• meiosis
• somatic versus sex cells
• life cycles
• Discuss family values
• Talk about possible families, adoption, IVF, abortion, sharing your values
• Build the habit of staying current in science and technology
• Make, "keeping up with the times," a habit.

Enjoy the news with your family.  Build science literacy as you do.  Your child may develop an interest in further studying one of the news topics and be gifted to bring new science news to us in the future.  At a minimum, it is likely that keeping up with science as it develops will enhance employability and youthfulness.  Yes, enjoy the news with your family.

(c)2012 J S Shipman .  All rights reserved.  All posts on this blog are copyrighted.

"L'endosulfan" 985FM looks at News on Pesticides

---UNDER DEVELOPMENT---

Here's a link:

http://www.985fm.ca/international/nouvelles/des-scientifiques-de-l-onu-appellent-a-l-interdict-39500.html

How can a student combine his or her knowledge of French with the study of science? A program such as the one above gives a good example. Students can use their languages to study various science topics. The above example speaks about a pesticide that affects the human nervous system. Students could read about that topic in their native languages or listen to radio or television programs. Then, students could return to class and share (in the common classroom language) what they have learned. Such discussions can improve science knowledge, build vocabulary and increase understanding of our global connectedness, the unity and diversity of life, and sustainability. Thus, a radio program on a current science topic can be a part of increasing science literacy.

Let's look at, " les polluants organiques persistants (POPs)," or, "Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)." (http://www.985fm.ca/international/nouvelles/des-scientifiques-de-l-onu-appellent-a-l-interdict-39500.html, Accessed 10-17-2010). What are persistent organic pollutants? Do your students know? Do they matter to them? Do they have anything to do with sustainability? How is the nervous system involved? Where can the students start?

One student has read the Canadian's post at 985FM.ca and brings the topic to class. Other students wonder about the topic. Students in the class speak English, Haitian Creole, French, Korean, Arabic, Spanish and a few other languages, among them Farsi, and Urdu. Can they read about this topic in their own languages? Let's see what we can find. Remind them that journal articles in a new-to-them field will have a lot of words they do not yet understand and they shouldn't worry about all the, "new," words (Source: Reach Reading^TM, J S Shipman).

One student looks for information in Spanish: "pesticidas orgánicos persistentes." The Spanish version of Wiki says,"Un Contaminante orgánico persistente (COPs) conocidos internacionalmente por sus siglas en inglés, POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) son un conjunto de compuestos orgánicos fabricado artificialmente por el hombre muy toxicos, que tiene un tiempo de persistencia en el ambiente muy largo. Al ser un compuesto artificial, las bacterias y demás organismos no pueden descomponerlo y degradarlos fácilmente. Muchos tienen efectos acumulativos, ya que se almacenan en los tejidos grasos fijándose en la cadena alimenticia y pueden tener efecto hormonales.," (Source http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contaminante_org%C3%A1nico_persistente ; Accessed October 20,2010) The Wiki post refers to the food chain, a topic frequently in the learning standards required for the class. This point comes out in the classroom discussion. A result is that the students start to understand that there is relevance to the material studied at school and the, "real world."

Another student decides to look for Spanish journal articles, with real laboratory reports that are peer-refereed by scientists in the authors' field, and finds this web site along the way: http://www2.ine.gob.mx/publicaciones/gacetas/422/convenio.html, an ecology website. Let's see what is discovered in the journal search, however, and explore the ecology site another day. Here's the information the student found on the site and brought in.

Boletín de la Sociedad Chilena de Química

versión impresa ISSN 0366-1644

Bol. Soc. Chil. Quím. v.46 n.2 Concepción jun. 2001

doi: 10.4067/S0366-16442001000200008

PLAGUICIDAS ORGANOCLORADOS PERSISTENTES EN

SEDIMENTOS DE TRES LAGOS COSTEROS Y UN LAGO ANDINO

DE CHILE CENTRAL

RICARDO BARRAL¹*, KARLA POZO¹, ROBERTO URRUTIA¹, MARCO CISTERNAS¹, PATRICIA PACHECO¹, y S. FOCARDI².

¹Unidad de Sistemas Acuáticos, Centro de Ciencias Ambientales EULA-CHILE,

Universidad de Concepción. Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile.

²Departamento de Biología Ambiental, Universidad de Siena, Via delle Cerchia 3,

Siena, 53100, Italia.

(Recibido: Septiembre 10, 1999 - Aceptado: Enero 19, 2001)

*A quien debe dirigirse la correspondencia e-mail: ricbarra@udec.cl

Source: http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0366-16442001000200008&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en; Accessed October 20, 2010)

If we want to have global sustainability, we have to ensure the students and their families understand the topics. An exercise such as this, listening and reading on the topic in native language, then sharing in the classroom language, can help bring the needed knowledge, such as the information on, "POPS," to them. Happy listening and happy reading! Remember to encourage students: Solutions, peaceful ones, do exist to global problems, like pesticide pollution with POPS. One or many of them, even all of them, may provide the answers.

(c) 2010 J S Shipman

Using Today's, "In the News," on Asteroids

Ice Found on Asteroid

An asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Saturn is adding credence to the theory that asteroids and comets are the source of Earth's water and organic material. Scientists observing 24 Themis, an asteroid about 300 million miles (479 million kilometers) from the sun, found that it contains both water--in the form of ice--and organic compounds. Before this observation was made, it was believed that asteroids' proximity to the sun causes them to be devoid of water. Comets, which form farther out in space, were previously known to possess water. More ... Discuss

Wow! An article catches a student's eye...Use that interest! How?

You can use the science article in other subjects, such as English Language Arts (ELA) or English-as-a-second(or, foreign)-language (ESL or EFL). Vocabulary Words might include:

• asteroid
• credence
• comets
• devoid
• proximity
• organic
• organic compounds

Again in, ESL, EFL or English language arts, you could look at grammar:

An asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Saturn is adding credence to the theory that asteroids and comets are the source of Earth's water and organic material.

versus

An asteroid, orbiting the sun between Mars and Saturn, is adding credence to the theory that asteroids and comets are the source of Earth's water and organic material.

Do the commas change the meaning?


You can use the science article in mathematics. Topics might include converting units of measure or looking at representing large numbers:

Scientists observing 24 Themis, an asteroid about 300 million miles (479 million kilometers) from the sun, found that it contains both water--in the form of ice--and organic compounds.

A quick converter is here, but, how does one calculate it by thought?
http://translatorbar.com/unitconverter.php

Here's a calculator used in teaching Japanese students English:
http://www.teaching-english-in-japan.net/conversion/miles

Still, what is the thought process?

Here's a, simple," way to convert miles to kilometers using Fibonacci numbers:
http://www.eudesign.com/mnems/milekms.htm. The mnemonic or memory, device presented is interesting and useful, but, our question remains...What is the thought process...the step-by-step? How can you teach this concept of conversion?

http://www.sparknotes.com/math/prealgebra/measurements/section3.rhtml Spark notes provides some guidance:

Converting Measurements

We can convert measurements from one unit to another unit within the same system (English or Metric) or between the two systems. Let's say a piece of land is 2.3 square miles, but the contractor needs to know the area in acres. How would he convert the measurement?
To convert measurements, it is necessary to know conversion factors between measurements. A conversion factor is a clever way of writing 1 as a fraction in which the numerator is equal to the denominator but the numerator and the denominator have different units. For example, (1,000 m)/(1 km) is a conversion factor because 1,000 m = 1 km. (1 ft)/(12 in) is a conversion factor because 1 ft = 12 in.
An important fact to remember is that when fractions are multiplied, numbers in the numerator and numbers in the denominator cancel out, as shown in Fractions. Also, units in the numerator and the denominator cancel out: if a unit appears in both the numerator and the denominator, we can cross both units out. For example:

× = × = 5, 000 m

The above quoted text is from http://www.sparknotes.com/math/prealgebra/measurements/section3.rhtml, Spark notes, accessed May 19, 2010. It should get you started in preparing lessons.

Now for...Really big numbers..."Scientific notation."

More coming: (Read more here) http://read-about-it.blogspot.com/2010/09/big-and-small-of-science-scientific.html

Links to games...Bones...Vocabulary Development...

http://quizhub.com/quiz/f-vocabulary.cfm

http://quizhub.com/quiz/f-bones.cfm

http://quizhub.com/quiz/quizhub.cfm

Skittering Lizards and Vocabulary Development

Word of the Day: skitter (on 2-27-2010) The sentence used that day was:

The area was populated by countless tiny lizards that would skitter away when approached.

I just loved that sentence. It reminded me of the anoles in Jamaica and Florida.

Here's a link:

skitter

Here's a YouTube video on anoles:

Remember, the "Word of the Day," box changes every day.

skitter discuss
Definition:	(verb) To move rapidly along a surface, usually with frequent light contacts or changes of direction; skip or glide quickly.
Synonyms:	scamper, scurry, scuttle
Usage:	The area was populated by countless tiny lizards that would skitter away when approached.

This anole is not skittering. It's more of a relaxing, lumbering anole, but, the video is peaceful.

"What is Economic Botany?"

"Simply put, Economic Botany is the interaction of people with plants. The word is based on two Greek roots ethnos (race: people: cultural group) and botanikos (of herbs) and can mean the plant lore of a race or people as well as the study of that lore." Source: http://botany.org/planttalkingpoints/economic_botany.php. Accessed 23 November 09. Read more.

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If you are interested in a children's (ages 5-10) economic botany lesson plan and book for students, let me know via e-mail or the call me button below.

Building Science Vocabulary

A reminder on definitions...

Remember you can double-click words in posts to obtain definitions.

Time to build immunity in your classroom?

"Immunity and You," Curriculum Available
This curriculum from Cornell will enable you and your students to learn about immunity.

I have posted related vocabulary words here. You can therefore double click on them for meanings and pronunciations. You might also want to use them to create a, "Word Wall," in your classroom. Perhaps each student could design a card and write the definition, too, for the wall.

AIDS Allergy Amino Acid Antibody Antigen Antihistamine Bacteria Disease Fungi Genes Histamine Genetic Recombination Homeostasis Immunity Immune System Insulin Lipid Microbes Organs Pancreas Parasites Pathogen Quarantine Receptor Molecule Recombination Synthesis Template Tissue Trait Tumor Vaccine Virus

Get rest, eat healthily, play healthily, and enjoy life. Build your immunity.

Double-click Definitions: New Feature to this Site!

You can now double-click a word to get its definition.

How do you get to Primary Sources from Secondary Sources?

Here is a secondary source article on ants (Click the words).

How would you find primary source articles on the same ants?

Here is an example of
a primary source article
that came up when searching in PNAS for
ants. It is not on Martialis heureka,
and, not by Christian Rabeling:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2447876.
Still, it might provide some clues.

The secondary source cited PNAS...Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, so let's look there:
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/14/5287.full?ck=nck. But, we have to go find a library that has this or purchase it to find out if it talks about the new species. It is like detective work.

A ha! Information on, "the 'ant from Mars' single specimen discovered in the Brazilian rainforest represents a sister lineage to all other ants... ARTICLE #08-06187: 'Newly discovered sister lineage sheds light on early ant evolution,' by Christian Rabeling (rabeling@mail.utexas.edu (Source:http://chinese.eurekalert.org/en/pub_releases/2008-09/potn-sif091808.php, 9-19-08)), Jeremy M. Brown, and Manfred Verhaagh." Let's try to find that! Here we go...Here's the link to the abstract: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/09/13/0806187105.abstract. Remember, when looking at a primary source article like this one, to use "reach reading" (trademark, jsshipman). You may have to look up a lot of new vocabulary. But, remember after reading 4 or 5 articles on the same topic, you'll likely learn all that vocabulary and be well on your way to becoming an expert. At the elementary school level, just getting the gist of an article and knowing that such primary sources do exist is the idea. (You might do an activity like circling or listing all the words you don't know...Remember not to write in books or journals unless you personally own them, however.) Don't get frustrated. Remember, just finding such articles and knowing they exist is great at this level. People who win the science fairs on the national level usually use these types of articles even in grades 1-6. On the high school level and junior college level, do try to paraphrase the gist of the article. (Knowing how to do this may come in handy during your life time, in case someone gets sick and you want to look up current research to discuss with your doctor, for example.) Upper class members and graduate students can remember that this is college level reading...and, it takes time to become familiar with such reading, even at these higher education levels. But, you should slug through articles in your research area, until you comprehend them. You might have to stay on the same paragraph for three days, or more, to do that. (Again, don't get frustrated nor discouraged.)

Could you also find primary source articles on the plants used as food, or habitat, or in the environment of these ants? Oh, another detective task! Let's see... First go back to the article and see if any plants are mentioned.
Try your hand at this and I will get back later on and update the post.

I don't know if you checked or not, but, you've had some time to look. When I looked, I didn't find anything there except, "plants of the Amazon rain forest," so I went to the primary source abstract. No plants were listed there, either, but, I found the words, "hypogaeic foragers." Those "Reach Reading™" words might help us. For example, knowing the meaning of common prefixes, roots, and suffixes will boost your chances of understanding new words. That is, we can guess from word parts:
Hypo...low, below
Gaeic... Earth, earth

We can also look in on-line or print dictionaries: hypogaeic foragers.

Now that we've checked those meanings, we can use these terms together with Amazon rain forest, to see if we can find anything: http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=967765773&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=967765773.pdf appears to be a thesis or dissertation from Germany, however, it is written in English and holds a clue: "[Ants known]...to feed on palm oil had broad food spectra (Rettenmeyer[,] 1963; Savage, 1849; Roonwal, 1972; Moffett, 1986)." Looking at the cited articles, we see these complete references:

Moffett, 1986. M. W. Marauders on the Jungle Floor. National Geographic 170:273-286.

Rettenmeyer, C. W. 1963. Behavioral studies in army ants. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 44:281-465.

Roonwal, M.L. 1972. Plant-pest status of root-eating ant, Dorylus orientalis, with notes on distribution and habits (Insecta:Hymenoptera). J. Bombay. Nat. Hist. Soc. 72:305-313.

Savage, T. S. 1849. The driver ants of Western Africa. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. 4:195-200.

The National Geographic article is likely a secondary source. The others look outwardly like they might be primary source, refereed journal articles. We can obtain these articles on-line, or, through interlibrary loan, or, by going to a library that has the journals. I suggest looking at the Roonwal article first, because he talks of roots and plant-pests. But, this article is in the Bombay journal... so, it likely doesn't mention plants of the Amazon that are fed on by ants.

If we have a difficult time finding such articles... on ants eating what plants in the Amazon, it may suggest a research area where we can provide new information. Of course, our literature search has just begun, but, it is an idea worth noting down. (These days you may wish to keep your notes in a spread sheet type file or a database. Personally, I find Microsoft Excel (trademark Microsoft) to be the easiest to rapidly manipulate and to be easy to add new columns and change the data types being stored, if desired. I have also used a number of other systems and file cards and notebooks, or combinations of the above...You have to find your own best system. For young students, this finding-your-own-best-system means learning specific ones your teachers give you, so you can try them out, to later discover what works best for you for note-taking.)

I hope at this point you are catching a feel for the detective-like, puzzle-solving excitement of science... Tracking down ideas in the technical literature so that you can build on the shoulders of the scientists preceding you. Gathering information is one of the steps needed in designing experiments. It allows you the tools to create sound experimental design. One must guard against being biased by the previous work, however. Go and explore. You can search for more primary articles on ants and their plants, or, you can select another science topic that interests you. Remember, the goal is to distinguish between primary and secondary sources, while you read about a science topic of interest to you. (By the way, this skill of finding primary and secondary sources is transferable to other areas such as history, music, math, art and all others.) Enjoy the detective work, and, don't get discouraged by difficult words.

Feel free to add comments on articles that you find, or on your own literature search adventures. If you have questions on primary and secondary sources, be sure to ask those, too.
###
Further Notes:
While looking up, "hypogaeic," to link definitions into the post, I came across this post on a "new" (1903) hypogaeic ant from Texas and have included it for your information: http://www.jstor.org/pss/1535770. When searching the technical literature, "old" literature may provide valuable information. This point is important because students are taught to stay current, and that, too, is important. But, some information is only available in older works. For example, one would not disregard the works of Aristotle or Plato, even though they are old. I mention this because I've seen schools teach students to throw out old references just because they are old. Sometimes that's valid, sometimes, it's not. The important thing is to think deeply about the value. For example, if you were reading an article on heredity from the 1930's and used it as your only source for a paper on heredity, then, you'd be in trouble, because so much new information is known on DNA and heredity since that time. The article below might provide a great comparison and contrast with the earlier article, cited in the secondary source that started this post... style of writing, methods used, similarities and differences in the descriptions, and so on.

The reference to the Texan ants is shown below:

• William Morton Wheeler. 1903. Erebomyrma, a new genus of hypogæic ants from Texas. Biological Bulletin, 4:3 (Feb., 1903). 137-148. Published by: Marine Biological Laboratory.

Once the post is updated, I will indicate the update at the bottom of the post: Updated 9-18-2008; Updated 9-20-2008.

Secure and reliable access, control, and management capabilities across network and computing infrastructures

Pragma Systems is one of the American companies providing secure and reliable access, control, and management capabilities across network and computing infrastructures. Located in Austin, Texas and easily accessible by web, Pragma Systems is representative of the kind of secure environment desired on the web: SSH Telnet

What are they a model for? If you have many people accessing your network, you need a "server" that can handle that traffic. The server has to be affordable. You might want to customize the login so that it is specific to your network group.

Recently we talked about gathering data and evaluating it. These are standard tasks in science. You can use these science skills to gather and evaluate network and computer information, too. Try it and see. What can you find out about the state-of-the-art technology related to secure and reliable network access? How about control and management capabilities?

There's technology vocabulary to learn, too. Do you know what a server is? How about a network? What is a network? When a subject area has a special language, that language is called a "jargon." Many areas of science have their own jargons. Look at the following text from a small part of a Pragma Systems advertisement:

"Ability to run, manage, and control any 16bit, 32bit, DOS character or console mode program, including edit.com, command.com, vi, emacs, pmon, net, ftp, lynx, perl and shells imported from Unix"

Do you see any jargon? Are there words that you don't know? Have you looked up the words? Here are some examples of words found in advertising that at the time of publishing were not all in the dictionary.

• perl
• lynx
• pmon
  
• shells:

  "Computer Science A program that works with the operating system as a command processor, used to enter commands and initiate their execution."

How can you learn more? Does advertising play a role in learning about new technologies? What about bias? Do you need to worry about bias in advertising? State-of-the-art technology often means the manufacturers are doing a lot of educating about their products. Still, you need to use higher order thinking skills and evaluate the data that you gather.

Remember what an herbarium is...

You might remember previous posts on herbaria. Here is a link that you might enjoy that can expand your knowledge of plant families while you learn more about herbaria and international cooperation.

Here is a virtual herbarium of European plants.
http://utopia.knoware.nl/users/aart/index.html

Can you find similar plants near where you live? Can you draw pictures of them? In today's electronic age, perhaps you would like to take digital photos. Enjoy the diversity of living things. Contemplate their unity in how they share biochemical mechanisms, like DNA.

Here's a Science Fair Guide you might find useful:

A Public Library Resource on Science Fairs:
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/projectguide/

Remember that scientists use art and writing. They are imaginative. They also pay attention to detail. Some important words for science fair (among other words) are:

control

versus

experimental

replicates

replications

duplicate

triplicate

quadruplicate

repeatability

fact

opinion

statistics

Do you know what these words mean?

Do you know why they are important?



(c)2007 J. S. Shipman

THE CROW AND THE SEA GULL

Dr-J'S FABLES

THE CROW AND THE SEA GULL

by Dr-J

In the nearly empty lot of a McDonald's not far from the coast one stormy summer's day a Sea Gull was trying to open his lunch sack. It had been conveniently left there by the previous guest, Mr. Litterbug. A Crow passed by, then alighted on the nearby macadem, pausing to say, "Hello," to Sea Gull and then watching him.

The Sea Gull picked up his lunch bag and flew up in the air. When he was high enough, he dropped the bag. Then, quickly flew down to look at it. Again and again Sea Gull flew up in the air, dropped his lunch sack and flew down again. Ever so patiently Sea Gull tried again and again. Finally he gave up, said Goodbye," to Crow and decided to fly farther in-land since the clouds over the sea looked ominous.

"Do you want help with your lunch," asked the Crow before the Sea Gull left?

"No, I'm going to find something else to eat," and the Sea Gull flew away.

"Why bother to look elsewhere?" said the Crow; "We have plenty of food right here." But the Sea Gull was already too far away to hear. The Crow walked over to the lunch sack and using the long toes as a hand, gently unfolded the top of the bag and then tipped the bag over and ate the lunch. Then the Crow knew:

It is better to wait patiently than to give up before reaching your goal.

THE END

This is a true story, except for the anthropomorphism at the end (And of course, the talking.) The actual incident, which the author watched, took place around 1999. Of course there are many other morals that could be drawn by the reader, such as...

• "Then the reader knew:
  • 'Littering is frustrating to wildlife and drastically alters their diet," or,
  • "Sea Gulls eat shell fish that they drop from the air, smash on the rocks and then, nibble on the pieces, while Crows use there feet and their minds to help them get their food," or,
  • "Old technologies need to be updated as situations change, or,
  • "Science education helps us preserve our environment, save our wildlife and sustain the Earth."
• Related articles
  • Smashing clams on rocks and Theseus...
  • Sea Gulls being fed our food and now...
  • Seagull plays golf...
  • Here's another story about a Crow watching a Seagull that I found after writing my story independently. My story is based on my own observations of an actual incident
  • Seagulls become flying "fatties"...
  • The Crow Society
  • One more Gull in a World of Gulls
  • More on crows and songbirds, too...
    

(c)2007 J S Shipman
used by Read-about-it.blogspot.com TIBU with the permission of the author.

If a tree had no leaves...

could you tell what tree it was?

Trees in Winter

Post under development...more later...

In winter, deciduous trees have already lost their leaves. You remember the autumn foliage season, when the leaves fell, don't you? So, how can you tell trees in winter?

Surprisingly, witch hazel flowers in winter, so that one is easy to tell...but, others? But, especially on a warm winter day...when snow is melting, but, it's not yet spring... you might like to take students for a walk. In preparing lessons, you might consider a walk where you use a key to identify trees. Cornell has a booklet for children 8 to 12 that adults will also find helpful: http://srb.npaci.edu/cgi-bin/nsdl.cgi?uid=/2007-05-23T18:23:11Z/D6C24D0D88B737E70B034467BBB04500/treeswinter.pdf

Winter, well, that's when a "twig key" comes in handy.

A site that can help you learn the vocabulary of "twigs" is: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/students/clas_act/winter/dressup.htm

Branching patterns and bark are also useful for identification.

If you are more interested in computers than walks outside, but, still want to work on winter trees, try: branching and computers...

More tree links can be found at: http://ddc.hampshire.edu/simforest/links/link_descriptions.html

Tennessee trees

physiology

Words are added each day, but, they change on archived posts.

Word of the Day: Words are added to this blog each day, but, they change on archived posts. Today's word is a science word, so I've added it here, in the posts, so that we can look at it again in the archived versions and still see what the word is. I've also added questions for a discussion and writing exercise about the word. You might like to keep a notebook or a spreadsheet or data base file about your words. I do this for new vocabulary I want to remember and for words I like to use. I then use the file in many way to enhance my own vocabulary development.

Today's word is, "ecesis."

It is said, "Eh-see-ses" and rhymes with , "yes," and the "c" sounds like and "s." "Ecesis," means, "The successful establishment of a plant or animal species in a habitat." A synonym is, "establishment. "A sample sentence is: "The ecologists were especially interested in ensuring the ecesis of the endangered species in the wildlife refuge."

1. 
   

2. 
   

3. Did you know this word, "ecesis," before?
   

4. Will you remember it now?

5. How does building your vocabulary help you learn more science?

12-17-07 petrous, stonelike