Vocabulary Study Skills for

Elementary Students

Jodi Bergen

Granite State College

EDU 703

November 25, 2018

 



Rationale

Sometimes learning math can feel like learning a foreign language.  To a certain extent, this is true.  Math has a precise vocabulary all its own and it can be hard to remember everything.  In our study of shapes and their attributes, we will discover many new math vocabulary words that will be important to identifying and classifying shapes.  

This book will show you several study skills strategies to help you learn the new geometry vocabulary.  We need to see, hear, and say new words many times before we remember them automatically.  The tools in this book will help you with that repeated practice.  



Graphic Organizers

The first few study skills strategies I will show you are graphic organizers. These are webs, maps, and other templates that help you organize information and see the relationships between concepts.

I am only showing you a few graphic organizers that are useful for learning vocabulary, but there are many more available for all sorts of information from timelines to comparisons to cause and effect.  


Flash Cards

Flash cards can be used for math vocabulary just as they are for vocabulary words in other subjects.  In order for flashcards to be effective, you should remember the following :

  1. Make the flashcards yourself.  Interacting with the information as you make the cards will provide an additional review for you.
  2. Use color to categorize your cards.  For example, plane shapes could be in blue and 3D shapes in red.
  3. Keep text short.  Use keywords rather than complete sentences. 
  4. Add pictures.  A picture will be especially helpful with geometry vocabulary.

 



Frayer Model

The Frayer Model is a graphic organizer used for learning vocabulary.  The four-square template allows students to think about words by defining the word in their own words, listing characteristics or facts, and drawing examples and non-examples.  



Concept Map / Word Web

A concept map is another graphic organizer for learning vocabulary.  Like the Frayer Model, a concept map organizes information about a word or concept and shows details about that concept.  



Mnemonic Devices

The next two study skills strategies are mnemonic devices.  

mnemonic is a memory aid that helps you remember a word or phrase by making connections with patterns and pictures. Mnemonic devices include special rhymes, pictures, songs, and other tools.


Keyword

The keyword method is a mnemonic device used to remember words by associating them with pictures of an object that sounds similar to the target word.  There are several steps involved in the keyword method.

  1. Recode – In this step, you think of a familiar word that sounds like the vocabulary word. 
  2. Relate - Next you match the keyword with the information you need to remember and create a picture. 
  3. Retrieve – The picture will have to be memorable so you can think of it whenever you need to access the vocabulary word.

 

Example:  Rhombus

Keyword:  Wrong Bus

Picture:        



Keyword

Polygons and their names lend themselves to using the Rhyming Words study strategy because the shapes are named based on the number of sides they have.  The Rhyming Words strategy gives sequential objects rhyming names based on their position in the order – one, two, three, etc. 

Think about the shapes you need to remember and the number of sides they have. 

The first polygon would be the triangle, which has three sides. Three rhymes with tree.  A Christmas tree is shaped like a triangle.      

The next polygon has four sides and is called a quadrilateral.  Four rhymes with door and a door has 4 sides.     



Resources

Hughes, E. M., Powell, S. R., & Stevens, E. A. (2016). Supporting Clear and Concise Mathematics Language: Say This, Not That. Grantee Submission. Grantee Submission. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED581377&site=eds-live

The IRIS Center. (2013). Study Skills Strategies (Part 1): Foundations for Effectively Teaching Study Skills. Retrieved from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/ss1/

The IRIS Center. (2013). Study Skills Strategies (Part 2): Strategies that Improve Students’ Academic Performance. Retrieved from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/ss2/

Paul J. Riccomini, Gregory W. Smith, Elizabeth M. Hughes & Karen M. Fries (2015) The Language of Mathematics: The Importance of Teaching and Learning Mathematical Vocabulary, Reading & Writing Quarterly, 31:3, 235-252, DOI: 10.1080/10573569.2015.1030995