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It contrasts traditional vocabulary pre-teaching and fact-based assessment with new science education frameworks emphasizing Science and Engineering Practices, shared learning communities, and three dimensions of science. The bulletin explains why some tool and action words can be taught upfront, while technical terms may emerge through investigation, discussion, models, and translanguaging strategies.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/words-for-science-learning-which-words-and-when/493615/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/words-for-science-learning-which-words-and-when/493615.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"dbqoiu","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-10-01",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why do teachers move away from emphasizing vocabulary pre-teaching in science?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The bulletin explains that science teaching has shifted toward sensemaking, where students learn by doing science and engineering practices. In that model, vocabulary support must align with how learners build understanding through investigations and discussion rather than only memorizing terms first.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What is sensemaking in the context of K-12 science learning?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Sensemaking is actively trying to figure out how the world works through science or how to design solutions through engineering. Students engage in Science and Engineering Practices, work within a learning community, and use core ideas alongside crosscutting concepts to build new understandings.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How should vocabulary be supported when students are learning technical science concepts?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The bulletin suggests teaching some words upfront to help students participate, such as names of tools and quick-demonstrated actions. For more technical terms, students can use everyday vocabulary during early discussions and gradually connect ideas as investigations progress, supported by models and credible evidence.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},493615,1791465676,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},3985747862462,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON  \n FOCUS BULLETIN   \nJune 2023  \nWords for Science Learning: Which Words and When?  \nIntroduction  \nRosario is starting her new job as a middle school ESL specialist. After completing her ESOL  \ncertification five years ago, she taught in a self-contained ELD classroom. Her new position  \ninvolves supporting students and teachers in middle school science. Rosario has not been in a  \nscience classroom for many years, and she does know that science has a lot of new vocabulary, so  \nshe decides to brush up a bit. She has lots of experience pre-teaching vocabulary, but is puzzled  \nwhen the science educators with whom she will work say that they hope she will not insist on that  \napproach.  \nClearly, things have changed! Rosario no longer feels so confident. Wondering how to support  \nher students’ science learning, she meets with her two science colleagues to learn about the  \ncurriculum and associated pedagogy. They are eager to explain how their avoidance of pre  \nteaching vocabulary connects with the way they teach students to do science.  \nWords for Science Learning WCER | University of Wisconsin–[Madison |](Madison | wida.wisc.edu)[ ](Madison | wida.wisc.edu)[wida.wisc.edu](Madison | wida.wisc.edu) 1  \nUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON  \nScience is Sensemaking  \nRosario is not alone in her confusion. ESL and science educators working together  \noften experience tension between what has previously been taught as best practice,  \nand the way science teaching and learning have changed with the Framework for K-12  \nScience Education (NRC, 2012) and subsequent Next Generation Science Standards  \n(NRC, 2013) . When Rosario took science classes, she did pretty well, because the tests  \nfocused on what she was good at: remembering facts and vocabulary terms. But today,  \nher new colleagues explained, science centers around sensemaking—a new term for  \nRosario, but one familiar to many science educators.  \nSensemaking is actively trying to figure out how the world works (science) or how  \nto design solutions to problems (engineering). Students do science and engineering through the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs). Engaging in these practices necessitates students be part of a learning community to be able to share ideas, evaluate competing ideas, give and receive critique, and reach consensus. Whether this community of learners is made up of classmates or family members, students and adults build and refine science and engineering knowledge together. (NSTA, from the NSTA Sensemaking Website. )  \nWIDA’s Making Science Multilingual project developed a similar definition of sensemaking: Sensemaking is all about using the tools of science to make sense of the natural world. Students begin with the shared experience of a relevant and compelling phenomenon, and work together to learn about the core ideas of science (Disciplinary Core Ideas). They make connections (Crosscutting Concepts) beyond the phenomenon to their lives and communities and to other areas of science. Guided by the Science and Engineering Practices, they learn how to examine ideas, ask science questions, gather data, and make claims that they can support with credible evidence. By engaging with all three dimensions of science and with one another, students coconstruct new understandings about the world through the lens of science.  \nAs Rosario learns about sensemaking, she asks,“But students still need to learn all those new words, right? How and when do they get a chance to do that?”  \nWhy Not Emphasize Vocabulary?  \nRosario’s colleagues agree that students need to learn some words upfront to help them participate in classroom activity. The names of tools (e.g., beaker, scale, pipette) can be taught, as these objects are pointed to or labeled, and some actions can be demonstrated quickly (crush, float) . But what about words like oxidation or evaporation?  \nMany science teachers are familiar with the reminder “ABC,” meaning“activiti","cbCaih2NbEzzCyd8","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaih2NbEzzCyd8","pdf",530219,11,"English","# Introduction\n# Science is Sensemaking\n# Why Not Emphasize Vocabulary?","[{\"question\":\"Why do teachers move away from emphasizing vocabulary pre-teaching in science?\",\"answer\":\"The bulletin explains that science teaching has shifted toward sensemaking, where students learn by doing science and engineering practices. In that model, vocabulary support must align with how learners build understanding through investigations and discussion rather than only memorizing terms first.\"},{\"question\":\"What is sensemaking in the context of K-12 science learning?\",\"answer\":\"Sensemaking is actively trying to figure out how the world works through science or how to design solutions through engineering. Students engage in Science and Engineering Practices, work within a learning community, and use core ideas alongside crosscutting concepts to build new understandings.\"},{\"question\":\"How should vocabulary be supported when students are learning technical science concepts?\",\"answer\":\"The bulletin suggests teaching some words upfront to help students participate, such as names of tools and quick-demonstrated actions. For more technical terms, students can use everyday vocabulary during early discussions and gradually connect ideas as investigations progress, supported by models and credible evidence.\"}]","Words for Science Learning: Which Words and When? | PDF",1790884558,28]