More than happy coincidences: Teaching multilingual children through science words across languages
Science educators use a wide set of tools to teach science in multilingual contexts. In this post, we present you with one of these tools: science cognates, or science words that sound or look similar across languages. We explain why science cognates are more than happy coincidences: They can be used in diverse ways to teach science to multilingual children.
So what are cognates, exactly? Cognates are words with the same meaning that look or sound similar in several languages. Cognates have common etymological roots. Think for example of pairs like bread/brood, milk/melk, or apple/appel, in English and Dutch. What is special for science is that it contains an unusually high proportion of these words, shared across many languages. Science cognates derive from Greek or Latin. Think of words like atom, atoom in Dutch, átomo in Spanish… Or the word laboratorium in English and Dutch, laboratuvar in Turkish…
But how can these words be used for learning? Take what we did in one of our projects as an example. Before they came to visit our partner science museum, we gave newcomer children a glossary with keywords. They were still learning Dutch, but could recognize many of the keywords. These were in fact science cognates, similar in their home languages. At school, the children were able to quickly read the main words that made up the story of the visit (the climb to the Mont Blanc): words such as altitude, temperature, or minerals. When they arrived to the museum, they felt prepared and ready to enjoy the visit!
Cognates can be incorporated in classroom activities in different ways. For example, one can group children who speak different languages and ask them to compare scientific vocabulary, or invite them to identify familiar word roots when presenting new concepts. The benefits extend beyond vocabulary learning. Recognizing cognates can make scientific concepts more memorable, provide quicker access to the learning content, or promote discussion and collaboration between children. Children can be proud of bringing knowledge of their own to the classroom.
We have likely not heard the end of the story when it comes to using cognates in science education. Science cognates are more than shared words across languages, they are bridges between languages and ways of knowing. By making these linguistic connections visible, science educators can help multilingual children see that learning science does not require leaving their home languages behind.
-Lucía Chisari | PhD researcher, Subproject ‘Science museums’.
Currently, this blog is only available in English and Dutch. To read it in another language we recommend using the translation tool DeepL.com.
