How to Learn Vocabulary Words for Biology
Given that the word "biology" literally means "the study of life," it's not surprising that you need to learn hundreds of vocabulary words if you're taking a course in it, regardless of your grade level or how advanced in science you are. Although there is no easy way to learn biology vocabulary words without putting work into it, you can employ several techniques to make doing so more habitual -- and, in some cases, even fun.
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Instructions
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Make flash cards to help you acquire vocabulary through repetitions. Bring a set of index cards along with you to every biology lecture. Write a word on the front of each card -- and its corresponding definition on the back -- whenever your teacher introduces new vocabulary. By integrating materials preparation into the class itself, you'll save yourself work later on -- and have more time and energy to learn the vocabulary while studying. When you practice on your own, try and identify what's on the other side of a given card without looking at it -- this will test your understanding.
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Use mnemonic devices, which are associations -- sometimes silly ones -- which help you remember a sequence of related terms using a sentence. For example, learning taxonomy -- how living things are classified -- is as simple as learning the following sentence: King Philip came over from Greece sailing. In other words: kingdom; phylum; class; order; family; genus; species.
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Use charts, maps and other visual aids whenever possible. If your biology unit is focused on human anatomy, for example, working with a chart which depicts the organs of the human body can help you associate definitions of said organs with their shape and location. This works especially well if you find you're generally a visual learner.
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Identify connections between separate words and concepts to learn their meanings through context. Memorizing five vocabulary words -- photosynthesis; fern; daisy; spores; seeds -- can seem like a lot of work. Understanding them as parts of a sentence which relates them together -- "Like plants such as daisies, fungi such as ferns use photosynthesis to make energy from sunlight, but while daisies reproduce using seeds, ferns use spores from the undersides of their leaves." -- is far simpler.
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