vocab and learning cycle

206 2006 International Reading Association (pp. 206219) doi:10.1598/RT.60.3.1

BRENDA H . SPENCER ANDREA M. GUILLAUME

Integrating curriculum through thelearning cycle: Content-based reading

and vocabulary instruction

To increase students retention of

vocabulary words, a learning cycle approach

is useful. The cycle builds background

knowledge and improves comprehension in

an engaging manner.

But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, producesThat which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.(Lord Byron, 1821, Don Juan, canto III, stanza 88)

This article highlights the importance of vo-cabulary development to literacy and arguesthat the content areas, particularly science,provide rich contexts for developing vocabulary. Itpresents an effective lesson model for fostering sci-ence learning outcomesthe learning cyclethatcan be used to systematically develop vocabularywhile building understanding in the content areas.The rationale for this article draws from literatureon the importance of vocabulary development,facets of vocabulary acquisition, prevalent practicesin vocabulary instruction, and the potential of con-tent areas as a context for vocabulary instruction.

The importance of vocabularydevelopment

Researchers have described the powerful, pos-itive relationship between vocabulary and compre-hension (Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Davis,

1944; National Institute of Child Health andHuman Development, 2000). Children who knowthe meaning of most of the words they hear andread comprehend more than those who do not(Freebody & Anderson, 1983). It has been estimat-ed that children who are immersed in oral and writ-ten language learn 2,500 or more words a yearwithout the help of direct instruction (Beck &McKeown, 1991).

There are important differences in the depthand range of the vocabulary knowledge of childrenas they enter school that affect their ability to com-prehend what they hear and read (Nagy & Scott,2000). Those who already know most of the wordsthey are exposed to will not only be able to under-stand more but also can use that understanding toacquire new knowledge and the vocabulary to rep-resent that knowledge. Children who have poor vo-cabularies not only may not understand much ofthe oral and written language they are exposed to,but they will be less able to learn new words.Children from low socioeconomic groups andthose who are learning a second language appear tobe especially at risk and may not be able to catchup unless direct intervention in learning words isprovided.

Facets of vocabulary acquisitionStudies of how children acquire vocabulary in-

dicate that it is a complex process. In their reviewof vocabulary processes, Nagy and Scott (2000)described the complexity of word knowledge.Among the factors that they identified were that

Integrating curriculum through the learning cycle 207

word knowledge is incremental, words have mul-tiple meanings, word knowledge is multidimen-sional, and word knowledge is interrelated.

Word knowledge is incremental. Because thereare limits to how much information children canlearn about a word in a single exposure, wordlearning usually takes place in small steps overtime. In order for their knowledge of a word to ap-proximate that of an adult, children need to en-counter the word in many different contexts.

Words have multiple meanings. Often, the wordsthat occur most frequently in language have multi-ple meanings. For example, the noun place canmean the space occupied by a person or thing, arank, or the position of a numeral in a series.Students need to expect that words may have mul-tiple meanings and be given instruction in how touse a dictionary effectively.

Word knowledge is multidimensional. Knowledgeabout words has many dimensions. To know a wordmeans knowing what it means, how it is related toother words, how to pronounce it, and how to use itin a sentence. These aspects of word knowledge arerelatively independent. Thus, a student might recallthe meaning of a word but be unable to use it cor-rectly in a sentence.

Word knowledge is interrelated. Because wordsare not isolated units, how well a word is under-stood is related to how much background knowl-edge the person has about the domain in which theword is used. For example, someone who is famil-iar with the word rabbit will be better prepared tounderstand the word hare upon first encounter.

Prevalent practices in vocabularyinstruction

Studies of teachers beliefs about vocabularyindicate that they realize its importance to under-standing text, and do allocate time to vocabularyinstruction. However, that instruction often doesnot address the complexity of word knowledge(Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000). Typically, teachersuse either an instructional context approach(Herman & Dole, 2005) or a definitional approach

(Ogle & Blachowicz, 2002) for vocabulary instruc-tion. In the instructional context approach, teachersuse sentences found in the teachers edition of theirreading programs to introduce vocabulary beforestudents read the assigned story. Students are eithertold what the word means or are asked to try to fig-ure out the meaning of the word from the context.In the definitional approach, students are given alist of words and asked to look up the definitionsin a dictionary. Although studies suggest that anyinformation about a word can potentially help stu-dents build knowledge about that word over time(Nagy & Herman, 1987), both approaches assumestudents have enough background knowledgeabout the topic to use the context of the sentenceto figure out the meaning or to choose the correctdefinition from the dictionary.

The success of these methods also depends onhow much the student needs to know about theword in order to maintain comprehension(Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000). For example, it maybe sufficient for a student to know that scampermeans to run quickly, if the student does not needto remember the word or needs the definition to un-derstand only a portion of the text. However, if theword is essential for instruction, superficial knowl-edge of a word will not suffice. Take the words forceand pole, for example. It would be difficult for a stu-dent to understand magnetism without a clear un-derstanding of these terms. In science and othercontent areas, terms are often building blocks forfurther understanding and need to be remembered.

Most reading and vocabulary instruction in theUnited States takes place with literature found inreading programs (Ogle & Blachowicz, 2002).Although there have been efforts to include moreinformational text in reading programs, the major-ity of the material tends to be stories written to pro-vide direct instruction in specific reading skills.Research in word learning indicates that in orderto enhance vocabulary, students need multiple ex-posures to words in different contexts and oppor-tunities to build background knowledge in thedomains in which the vocabulary is likely to oc-cur. However, the selections in reading programsgenerally skip from topic to topic and are not in-tended to build knowledge about a domain in anycoherent way. If the words suggested for vocabu-lary instruction in the teachers manual are notessential for understanding the entire text, then stu-

The Reading Teacher Vol. 60, No. 3 November 2006208

dents may need only a superficial understandingof the word to construct meaning. There is littleneed for students to remember the word over time(Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000). Such is not the casein the content areas.

The content areas as a context forvocabulary development

The content areas provide rich contexts for vo-cabulary development in the elementary grades.Content areas provide especially fertile ground forthree of the six tasks of learning new words sug-gested by Graves (1987): learning new meaningsfor familiar words, new terms for familiar con-cepts, and new words for new concepts. The con-tent areas also can provide opportunities to clarifyand enrich the meanings of known words which,with effective instruction, can enable students tomove words from their receptive (words they un-derstand) to their expressive (words they use) vo-cabularies.

The content areas offer an additional opportu-nity for vocabulary development. In the content ar-eas, new words and concepts are central toinstruction, and thus students need to learn specif-ic meanings, to understand the terms when theyhear and read them, to use them correctly in bothoral and written communication, and to rememberthem over time (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000). Allcontent areas have specialized vocabulary and pro-vide a context in which students will have multi-ple exposures to words and concepts over time.

For a number of reasons, the science contentarea provides a rich environment for vocabularydevelopment. Science describes the natural world,so each of its concepts is observable, either direct-ly or through inference. Science is an empirical en-deavor that focuses on questions such as, What isthe evidence? and Does it work when we try it?The empirical nature of science makes it possiblefor teachers to build background knowledge andrecreate phenomena for students own experience.Much of the science content that elementarystudents are expected to learn can be easily de-monstrated. As a result, immediate, concrete rep-resentation of concepts and terms is likely.

Elementary teachers can reap the instructionalbenefits of science as fertile ground for vocabulary

development by capitalizing on common principlesof literacy and science instruction and by exploringlesson models that foster learning in both domains.The remainder of this article presents some sharedprinciples that can guide literacy and science in-struction, and a lesson model (the learning cycle)that can be used to enact these principles to en-hance vocabulary development.

Some shared principles of literacyand science instruction

Research in the fields of reading and scienceeducation suggest a number of principles that sup-port reading and language artsparticularly vo-cabulary developmentand science goals. Fourprinciples, in particular, have wide applicability.

1. Use both firsthand experiences and print re-sources to enhance learning. Firsthand experi-ences in which students observe or manipulatesome object or event are a critical ingredient ofscience learning and can enhance vocabularylearning. It is through the observation and manip-ulation of objects in the natural world that studentscome to understand the properties of such objectsand how those can be expected to interact withothers (Piaget, 1937/1954). Through firsthand ex-periences, students build the foundation for moresophisticated explanations of the natural world.Providing students with rich, firsthand experi-ences, then, provides them with a bank of conceptsthat become their vocabulary store. The richer andmore varied students experiences related to par-ticular concepts, the more finely detailed and nu-anced their understanding of related terms can beexpected to be.

Direct experience with the environment alsoserves other important instructional purposes.When students are engaged in firsthand experi-ences they spontaneously activate their priorknowledge, which helps to prepare them for newlearning. In addition, they are more likely to gen-erate fully formed and relevant questions than otherstudents. Engagement in activities that encouragehands-on learning increases motivation and a senseof ownership of the information being learned(Guthrie & Ozgungor, 2002).

Text resources also are a critical component ofthe science curriculum. The benefits for vocabularydevelopment are many, as reading experiences helpto more fully develop students understanding ofwords. First, content area reading experiences canprovide labels for newly developed concepts.Second, they can provide additional exposure toterms introduced through teacher talk and class-room discussion. Third, the experiences can add tostudents understanding of words multiple mean-ings and show words in a variety of contexts so thatstudents can build shades of meaning. Finally,when students are provided text resources that arerelevant to the topics they are investigating, theycan extend firsthand experiences, providing a newbut related context for students to apply effectivestrategies for gaining knowledge and increasingunderstanding (Guthrie & Ozgungor, 2002).

2. Promote student interaction. From a sociocul-tural perspective, learning is a social activity(Vygotsky, 1934/1978). When students have theopportunity to work together, they are more likelyto be actively engaged and have more positive atti-tudes (Almasi & Gambrell, 1994; Guthrie et al.,1996). Social interaction has clear benefits for vo-cabulary development. Nagy and Scott (2000, p.237) posited that knowing a word means beingable to do things with it. Interaction provides stu-dents with an opportunity to use newly acquiredterms in engaging contexts. In so doing, they havethe opportunity to hear new terms and to use newterms, thus moving the terms from their receptivelanguage to their expressive language.

3. Guide student learning. Much research onstudent thinking in science indicates that studentsenter school with preconceptionsor alternativeconceptionsabout the natural world, conceptionsthat do not always match accurate or fully formedscientific explanations (Bransford, Brown, &Cocking, 2000). Furthermore, research suggeststhat students often resist changing their preconcep-tions, so that students notions may survive instruc-tion intact (Driver, 1981). Careful teacher guidanceis required to support student learning and concep-tual change. By challenging or extending studentspreinstructional ideas through thoughtful instruc-tion, teachers can guide students to construct moreaccurate and sophisticated concepts and explana-

tions (Bransford et al.). Teacher guidance may beparticularly important in the development of accu-rate and multidimensional knowledge of the largenumbers of terms found in the content areas.Explicit teacher guidance can help students devel-op an interest in words, relate new words to experi-ences they may have had, build relationships amongnew terms, develop deep meanings of words, andlearn how to learn new words (Gunning, 2004).

4. Take a metacognitive approach to instruction.In science and in reading education, as in educationin general, a major goal is for students to becomelifelong learners. In order for this to occur, studentsmust develop the motivation and skills necessary totake charge of their own learning. They need to beable to set learning goals, monitor their thinking, andmodify their behavior when problems arise (Baker& Brown, 1984; Bransford et al., 2000). In scienceand other content areas, vocabulary words are of pri-mary importance because they are often labels formajor concepts. In order to be successful, independ-ent learners, students need to develop the skills tomonitor their word knowledge by being aware of thevarying depth of knowledge they have of terms,know how to find and use resources to enrich andclarify their knowledge when needed, and reflect onchanges in understanding as their word knowledgegrows. Teachers can support growth in thesemetacognitive skills by providing explicit instructionand modeling, such as in the think-aloud technique(Baumann, Jones, & Seifert-Kessel, 1993), and byproviding opportunities for students to use and refinetheir metacognitive skills.

These principles, in summary, encourage teach-ers to facilitate vocabulary development in the con-text of science instruction by providing a variety ofexperiences, including both text-based and concreteactivities; encouraging student interaction; guidingstudents learning; and fostering the development ofstudents control over their own thinking andknowledge.

The learning cycleOne instructional model that can be used to in-

corporate shared instructional principles is thelearning cycle. Developed in the latter half of the 20th century during science curricula reform


in the United States (specifically, for the NationalScience Foundationfunded Science CurriculumImprovement Study; Karplus, 1964), the learningcycle is backed by research to suggest that its usecan result in greater science achievement (includ-ing greater concept retention) and enhanced scien-tific attitudes and processes (Abraham, 1997;Martin, 2004). It also has positively affected com-prehension of science text (Musheno & Lawson,1999).

Although many versions of the learning cycleexist, most involve inductive instruction that em-beds learning within real-world contexts. Thelearning cycle proceeds first by eliciting studentsprior knowledge and building a purpose for learn-ing; it then moves to exploration; to carefully con-solidating new concepts, terms, and information;and finally to applying the new knowledge.

Potential benefits for vocabularydevelopment

Although many positive outcomes have beendocumented for instruction through a learning cycle,we appear not yet to have capitalized on its poten-tial for enhancing vocabulary development. Thelearning cycle can be a useful instructional tool forteaching content-specific vocabulary in conceptual-ly rich ways by supplying a number of possible ben-efits. It fosters student motivation by embeddingvocabulary study in personally relevant contexts. Alearning cycle approach allows students to buildconcepts through varied experiences before label-ing them with formal vocabulary terms. It providesopportunities for direct teacher intervention and forthe reading of content text after motivation is highand concepts have been built. Social interaction, em-bedded at various points in the learning cycle, en-courages exploring ideas and using terms inmeaningful conversation. The learning cycle fosterslanguage development for English-language learnersby increasing motivation to learn through loweringstress, by using concrete referents, and by encour-aging context-embedded language use. The learn-ing cycle allows for multiple exposures to targetterms and can allow for practice with those terms.The cycle builds in the use of new concepts andterms in different applications. Finally, it providesopportunities for the development of metacognitiveawareness of vocabulary knowledge.

Phases of the learning cycleOne particularly useful version of the learning

cycle has four phasesengage, explore, develop,and apply.

The engage phase. During the engage phase, stu-dents are presented with an interesting real-worldquestion or phenomenon. The phenomenon might,for instance, be a demonstration of a puzzlingevent, or it might be a question about somethingwithin the students life experience. The engagephase must sufficiently interest students in the top-ic so that they are motivated to continue its explo-ration. This phase serves two purposes: It bringsto the surface students prior knowledge, and itsparks interest in learning.

Vocabulary development in the engage phase. Interms of vocabulary development, the engagephase elicits the language that students bring to thequestion or phenomenon. Because students canhave very different background experiences andword knowledge, eliciting students language canexpose them to rich language from their peers. Theengage phase also can be used to set the stage fordeveloping concepts and labels for target terms.

Pictures and other visuals often are useful foraccessing background knowledge and creating richconversations about a topic. For example, duringthe engage phase of a learning cycle that teacheshow birds feeding habits are related to their phys-ical structure, third-grade students were shown pic-tures of common birds. Their teacher fostered adiscussion wherein students shared their ideasabout the pictures: Heres a picture of an interestingbird I saw at the park yesterday. Have you seen thistype of bird before? Which of these other birdshave you seen? Where did you see the bird? Whatdo you know about it? The teachers final questionfocused the topic: Is there anything about the waythat the bird looks that could help us determinewhat kinds of food it might eat?

Information from students discussions duringthe engage stage can be recorded using graphic or-ganizers such as semantic maps or webs with thequestions asked by the teacher serving as categoryheadings. Data retrieval chartsgraphic organizersused frequently in science and social studies in-struction (Brem & Subotnik, 1988)also can be


effective for organizing students initial ideas andterms and the ongoing efforts of their research. Thedata retrieval chart in Figure 1 helped studentsthink about birds forms in conjunction with theirfeeding habits. Some cells are left blank until stu-dents gain more information.

Graphic organizers help students see and ques-tion relationships among terms and allow theteacher and students access to the groups pooledknowledge, including word knowledge. Informa-tion on the organizer can help build students back-ground knowledge and help the teacher decide onthe kinds of experiences that can be used to clarifyand enrich student knowledge. Organizers can bemodified as new learning occurs. Table 1 presentsvocabulary activities for different phases of thelearning cycle; see the first row of the table for spe-cific vocabulary activities that can be used duringthe engage phase.

The explore phase. During the explore phase, stu-dents participate in hands-on exploration directlyrelated to the question(s) raised during the engagephase. The explore phase allows students to inves-tigate the properties of relevant materials and to be-gin forming nascent ideas about the concept. Noexplicit instruction on concepts is given during thisphase. However, as students engage in exploration,they develop new ideas about the topic and useterms that help them express relationships amongthese new concepts. In addition, the explore phasedeepens their understanding of emerging conceptsthat were expressed in the engage phase.

Vocabulary development in the explore phase.Vocabulary development here focuses on develop-ing conceptsnot labels. Teachers can pay partic-

ular attention to recording students own labels fortarget terms. If students ideas during the engagephase were collected in data retrieval charts or oth-er graphic organizers, then new ideas and studentsterms for expressing them can be added to the ex-isting graphic organizer. Often, when students haveopportunities to engage in hands-on experiences,previous ideas about concepts change. Teachersand students should work together to modify andadd to the graphic organizer as new understandingis developed. Teachers should help students devel-op rich representations of the concepts so that vo-cabulary knowledge will be deep and sophisticatedrather than superficial and simple.

Drawing is a useful technique for helping stu-dents record new understanding as it develops dur-ing the explore phase. As fourth-grade studentsobserved pill bugs with hand lenses, their teacherasked them to carefully record what they saw indrawings. Many students chose to label their draw-ings. An example is found in Figure 2. As studentsdrew, their teacher monitored their work and notedthat they were developing and using accurateknowledge of some of the scientific vocabulary rel-evant to pill bugs (e.g., antennae, body, segment-ed, legs). She also noted the inaccurate term insecton a few of the students drawings. As a result, theteacher planned to address the terms insect andcrustacean during the develop phase. Terms foundin students drawing labels were added to the class-room word wall that was developed in the engagephase. In addition, three students duplicated theirdrawings on the board for later discussion. See thesecond row of Table 1 for additional vocabulary ac-tivities that can be used during the explore phase.


FIGURE 1Data retrieval chart on birds

Bird Where it lives How it looks What it eats


TABLE 1Vocabulary activities for each phase of the learning cycle

Engage Photographs or artifacts (discuss objects that heighten curiosity about topic) Student questions (list things that make students curious about the topic) Graphic organizers such as pictorial maps, semantic maps, data retrieval charts, and Venn dia-

grams (record students initial ideas) Cooperative learning strategies such as think-pair-share (Lyman, 1981; elicit student ideas about

the question or topic) Word banks (make lists of student-generated terms related to question or topic) Possible sentences (Moore & Moore, 1986; predict word meanings by constructing possible sen-

tences using them) Predict-o-grams (Blachowicz, 1986; predict word meanings by placing terms in conceptually rele-

vant categories) Brainracing (Brown, Phillips, & Stephens, 1993; write as many ideas about the topic as can be re-

called in a short time) Factstorming (Hennings, 1982; list students known facts about the topic) 10 most important words (Stephens & Brown, 2000; Yopp & Yopp, 2002; for topics that are

somewhat familiar to students, predict or select from a list those that will be the most importantto the topic)

Drawings (sketch initial ideas related to the topic; label as appropriate)

Explore Use student questions (from engage phase) to guide explorations Continue to record ideas, facts, and words using activities from engage phase:

Graphic organizers such as pictorial maps, semantic maps, and Venn diagrams Word banks Brainracing (Brown et al., 1993) Factstorming (Hennings, 1982)

Develop Revisit activities from engage phase, check predictions, revise to correct misconceptions, elabo-rate with additional information, and systematize new knowledge:

Data retrieval charts (check facts and add more) Possible sentences (check sentences for plausibility; revise) Predict-o-grams (revise the grams) Graphic organizers (revise and elaborate on organizers) Drawings (revise sketches and labels, elaborate, or create new drawings and compare) Word banks (revise and then manipulate terms to reflect new understandings through

strategies such as word sorts or list-group-label [Taba, 1967])

Pursue vocabulary development as primary objective Semantic feature analysis (e.g., Pittelman, 1991; chart features of important concepts) OPIN (opinion) strategy (Vacca & Vacca, 1998; students argue for their choice of terms to

complete a cloze passage) Sketch-to-stretch (Short, Harste, & Burke, 1996; draw, with an emphasis on inference) Word treasure hunts (Haggard, 1989; an expert discovers everything there is to be known

about one chosen vocabulary term) Vocabulary maps (choose from many varieties; one has the categories of word, definition, picture

or sentence, synonym, and antonym) Analogies Classification of pictures or words on cards, perhaps developing glossary or cloze based on clas-

sification Dramatizations of terms Exploration of word histories Use of reference sources to build word knowledge

Apply Use terms from word banks and other study in writing letters, books, poems, multimedia presen-tations, songs, and other products

Word chains (Stephens & Brown, 2000; link terms by explaining their semantic connections) I-Search paper (Macrorie, 1998; investigate new, personally relevant issues) Readers Theatre (Flynn, 2004/2005)

The develop phase. During the develop phase,teacher and students build upon and systematizethe knowledge gained during exploration. They re-view students efforts and reflect on the success orfailure of any empirical tests. They review the ini-tial question, determine the extent of their ability toanswer it, and consider questions of emerging rel-evance. Teachers explicitly address misconceptionsduring this phase. Typical activities during the de-velop phase include reading, teacher presentationof information, student-led instruction, and techno-logically assisted instruction such as video or mul-timedia presentations. The answers to the questionsraised during the engage phasealong with thecareful development of knowledge underlying thequestionsare the point of the develop phase.

Vocabulary development in the develop phase. Itis during the develop phase that the teacher explic-itly guides students to attach terms to new conceptsand to formally structure and enhance concepts thatbegan forming during the explore phase. Becausemost word knowledge comes from reading(Anderson & Nagy, 1992), it is appropriate forteachers to include opportunities for students toread in the develop phase. For example, teacherscan provide students with texts, websites, and oth-er print resources to structure and enhance the con-cepts that emerged during the explore phase and toguide students in extending their learning.However, learning words from context is not easyfor many students, especially when those words arefound in content area texts that have a dense con-cept load. Three strategies are of particular benefitin helping students become independent wordlearners: using context clues, using word parts, andusing the dictionary. Students who receive instruc-tion in these strategies and receive ongoing re-minders to use them are more successful inlearning new vocabulary (Anglin, 1993; Fukkink &de Glopper, 1998).

Think-alouds (Baumann et al., 1993) can teachstudents how to use strategies effectively. The pur-pose of think-alouds is to encourage students tomonitor their own understanding of text and to usestrategies that help to facilitate their comprehen-sion. In think-alouds the reader stops periodicallyand thinks aloud how a text is being understoodand what strategies are being employed. Initially,the students observe the teacher modeling the pro-

cedure. Then students engage in guided practiceuntil they are ready to use the think-aloud strategyindependently. For example, in a think-aloud onhow to use context clues, the teacher would readaloud a section of text, stopping at an appropriatevocabulary word. Then the teacher explains what isgoing on in his or her mind while trying to figureout the meaning of the word from the context. Theteacher would continue modeling the think-aloudprocedure using several examples before asking thestudents to join in, first as a group and then in pairs.Once students have had ample opportunity to prac-tice the procedure, the teacher encourages them touse think-alouds whenever they encounter un-known words in text. The procedure would be usedsimilarly in teaching students to determine if us-ing word parts could help them to recognize thecorrect meaning of a word and to choose the bestdefinition for a term from the dictionary.

Another activity that requires students to con-sider their understanding of terms is 10 MostImportant Words (Stephens & Brown, 2000; Yopp& Yopp, 2002). In Yopp and Yopps version of thisactivity, studentsin small groups or pairsare


FIGURE 2Students labeled drawing of a pill bug, created

during the explore phase

asked to reflect on what they have learned so farand to choose 10 words that they believe are criticalto understanding the topic. Each word is writtenon a sticky note and students share their words byconstructing a class bar graph. Identical words areplaced above one another to form bars that repre-sent the number of times the word was suggested.After all the words have been shared, the teacherasks questions about the words: Why did you (ordid you not) choose words that are alike? Whichwords represent big ideas about the text? Whichrepresent important details? How can we organizeor sort the words to reflect the structure of whatwe have learned? Students can be asked to writesummary statements about each word. In addition,words selected from classes 10 Most ImportantWords recommendations can be used to restruc-ture or reflect on graphic organizers or semanticmaps developed in earlier phases of the learningcycle. See the third row of Table 1 for other spe-cific vocabulary activities that can be used duringthe develop phase.

The apply phase. Finally, during the apply phase,students use their new knowledge in a different sit-uation, typically a realistic one. This allows stu-dents to transfer their learning to new contexts andtest its implications in other settings. For example,fourth-grade students who learned about electro-magnets might, during the apply phase, invent de-vices using an electromagnet that have somepractical use. They can write placards to accompa-ny their machines and then display them. In theirplacards, they make use of newly acquired vocab-ulary terms such as temporary magnet, magneticfield, coil, and insulation.

Vocabulary development in the apply phase.During this phase, students can use new terms inreadings or writings that take them into differentcontexts. This will allow multiple repetitions ofthe terms and allow them to use terms in novel (ex-pressive) ways. For example, Flynn (2004/2005)suggested that Readers Theatre can be an effectivetechnique for encouraging students to apply whatthey have learned in a new context. ReadersTheatre requires students to create an interestingsituation in which to present what they havelearned, write a script, and present it to their peers.In order to be successful, students must present ac-

curate, comprehensible information using the vo-cabulary associated with the topic and must be ableto read the script accurately and with appropriatespeed. As students write the script the teacher mon-itors the process, providing an opportunity to as-sess learning, correct misperceptions, and makesuggestions or modifications. Students prepare forthe presentation by rereading orally their parts ofthe script and by listening to their peers. Rereadingpromotes fluency (Samuels, 1979/1997) and re-quires active participation, improving retention ofimportant concepts and the vocabulary words thatdescribe them (Weinstein & Mayer, 1986).

Other types of writing activities also can beused effectively to provide students with creativecontexts for applying their knowledge. Studentscan compose books, poetry, songs, presentations,and letters that target a variety of audiences. For ex-ample, third graders studying our solar system ex-tended their learning by composing cinquainpoems for greeting cards. A students poem,Jupiter, is found in Figure 3. Figure 4 presentsAtoms, another content-based poemthis one ashape poemcomposed by a fifth grader duringthe apply phase. In completing their study offorces, fourth-grade students composed a Did YouKnow... class book to share what they learned withtheir families during Open House. One studentsdiscoveries about water pressure are found inFigure 5.

A sample learning cycle thatemphasizes science vocabularydevelopment

What follows is a second-grade lesson onsound, designed to address the generalization thatsound can be described by its properties, such asvolume and pitch. Target vocabulary terms includevibrate, pitch, volume, frequency, high, low, loud,and soft. Other terms such as the names of musicalinstruments, places, people, and types of musicalso may be addressed if they arise as importantfrom students experience. Instructional points inscience and vocabulary are included throughout thedescription of the cycle.


Engage

1. Ask students to view a variety of musical in-struments. Record their thoughts about in-struments, such as names of instruments,where they have seen them, who they haveseen play them, or descriptions of the instru-ments.

The science point: Finding out students backgroundexperiences with things that make sound. The vo-cabulary point: Finding out words students alreadyhave related to sound and making them part of theclasss shared knowledge.

2. As a review of the previous days lesson inwhich the production of sound was dis-cussed, ask what all of these instrumentshave in common. Engage in a discussion toreview the generalization that anything thatmakes sound makes it through vibrations.(During the previous lesson, this term wasexplored and labeled.)

3. Ask students to close their eyes. Tell themto guess which instruments made the soundsthey are about to hear. Play one sound eachfrom two different instruments. After stu-dents succeed at identifying instruments,play two sounds using one instrument, vary-ing the volume. Then vary the pitch.

4. Ask how one instrument can make so manydifferent sounds. Record students initialideas.

The science point: Finding out what students alreadyknow about volume and pitch and the relationshipsbetween concepts such as vibration and pitch. Thevocabulary point: Determining what terms studentsuse for the concepts volume and pitch.

Explore

1. State the explore task: Students will inventan instrument. They are to determinewhether it can make more than one sound,and if it can, they are to see what they candiscover about how this single instrumentcan make more than one sound.

2. Distribute materials to make straw hornsplastic drinking straws and scissors. Reviewsafety precautions for using scissors.

3. Invite students to make noise using thestraws, allowing first for open exploration.As necessary, model how to make horns:Cut one tip of the straw until it is pointed.Flatten that end with teeth, then blowthrough pointed tip.

4. Challenge students to change the soundsstraw horns make. Guide them to changevolume (by blowing more air through the


FIGURE 3Students cinquain poem, composed during the

apply phase of a study of the solar system

FIGURE 4Students shape poem, composed during the

apply phase of study of matter

horn) and pitch (by changing the length ofthe straw using scissorsthe shorter thestraw, the higher the pitch). The science and vocabulary points: Adding to first-hand knowledge of the concepts of pitch and vol-ume by exploring them with new instruments;attaching additional meaning to the previous con-cepts of vibrate and vibration.

Develop

1. Gather students to discuss findings. Askthem, How can we change the sound of ourstraw horns? Invite students to talk withtheir neighbors to answer that question. Takesome responses for the group.

2. Discuss pitch. Many student pairs will havenoticed that straws of different lengths pro-duce different sounds. Ask all students toreplicate high and low pitches. Demonstrate

as necessary. Cutting the straw shorter asyou blow will change the pitch in a visuallyvivid way. Label that difference in sound aspitch.

The vocabulary point: Labeling the new conceptpitch with a formal term.

3. Focus on the relationship between vibrationand pitch by leading a discussion. Suggest,Lets use our idea of vibration from yester-day. Please talk to your neighbor about howpitch and vibration go together. Lead stu-dents to conclude that the faster the vibra-tion, the higher the pitch. (Shorter strawshave a shorter column of air, so the air mol-ecules vibrate faster.)The science point: Relating differences in the speedof vibration to differences in pitch. The vocabularypoints: Moving an existing term (vibration) into ex-


FIGURE 5Students contribution to class book on water pressure

pressive language; building relationships amongterms.

4. Discuss volume. A few students may notethat they could produce loud and soft soundswith their straws. Ask all to demonstrate aloud sound. Ask for a soft sound. Label thatdifference as volume.

5. State the generalization that pitch and vol-ume are two properties that can be used todescribe sound.

Apply

1. Refer back to the sample instruments. Askstudents to select their choice of instrument,and ask the class to describe the sounds ofeach in terms of volume and pitch.

The science point: Applying knowledge of the con-cepts of volume and pitch to real-world instruments.The vocabulary point: Practicing new terms in au-thentic contexts.

2. Distribute a rubber band to each student. Tellthem that the rubber band is an instrument inthe making. Invite them to invent an instru-ment that produces sounds that vary in pitchand volume.

3. Make a wall book about Sound Words.See Figure 6 for a partially completed ex-

ample. Use target terms and a sampling ofthose that arose during the listing process ofthe engage phase. In groups, students tackleone word of their choice. Sources such asfamily members, class dictionaries, and theInternet support students efforts to completethe final column (What it also is). Studentsenjoy revisiting the wall book in future les-sons and reading it with a pointer during freetimes throughout the day.

The vocabulary points: Reaffirming and practicingterms, using information sources (such as dictionar-ies) to build word knowledge, learning new terms forfamiliar concepts (such as vibrate for shake or rattle),and learning a variety of new meanings for terms.

Try a learning cycle to buildvocabulary

We believe that learning cycles in science canprove fruitful for developing content vocabulary.Because science instruction and the learning cyclemodel promote learning in real-world contexts, theyprovide students with a motivating environment inwhich to build new understanding and learn newwords. The engage, explore, develop, and applyphases of the learning cycle create opportunitiesfor students to encounter and use words in multiple


Figure 6Partially completed wall book entitled Sound Words

Word Picture Meaning Sentence What it also is

Pitch The highness or A throw in baseball high

lowness of a sound Black stuff at thelow beach

Sound Something a The harp makesperson can hear a beautiful sound.

Volume How much a cup holds A button on the radio One book in a set

Vibrate When something We watched the drumshakes or moves vibrate by pouringback and forth sand on it.fast

contexts, making it more likely that they will makethe terms part of their receptive and expressivevocabularies. We have provided examples of a num-ber of effective vocabulary strategies that teacherscan use in the learning cycle. Many of these strate-gies have features that allow teachers to add newterms and modify understandings as new learningoccurs. When teachers create an environment inwhich students are motivated to learn vocabularyand engage the students in shared experiences thatenhance their understanding, they build the skillsstudents need to be successful learners.

Spencer teaches at California State University,Fullerton. She may be contacted there(Elementary and Bilingual Education, P.O. Box6868, Fullerton, CA 92834-6868, USA). E-mail [email protected]. Guillaumeteaches at the same university.

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