Nomenclature is a tricky word with a simple definition; it’s our way of choosing names for things, especially in scientific disciplines such as biology or chemistry. Fun fact, the word nomenclature comes from the Latin word, literally translated to assigning names! The following activities and ideas will hopefully inspire you to teach this subject in a creative way and give students the opportunity for further study. We’ve compiled a list of 10 fun games and activities to suit a variety of learners at different stages of their education journey.
1. Show a Short Video
With lots of language and content to cover, this can be a tricky topic to teach. This handy video gives viewers the main information about organic nomenclature and links it to everyday items such as soda.
Learn More: CrashCourse
2. Mystery Compound Games
All those chemical compounds can get a bit confusing. With this easy-to-play game, your students will begin to understand chemical nomenclature with ease. The idea is for students to come up with ‘made up’ compounds and the matching formula for their classmates to decipher. This is easy to set up and facilitate.
Learn More: Study.com
3. Tree Nomenclatures For Pre-schoolers
We can begin to address nomenclature at a young age by just assigning names to different parts of something. For example, in the following activity, we can use assorted trees, to explain to children that they are made up of various parts and a name is assigned to each. This is a fun matching activity that can be done individually or in small groups.
Learn More: Wonderful World of Montessori
4. Dice Games
This fun game, using 20-sided dice, has several options to suit your learners. The students have to fill in worksheets and match them with the corresponding dice numbers to show their understanding of chemical compound names. There are scaffolded versions available for students who may need a little extra assistance throughout completion.
Learn More: Science With Mrs. Lau
5. A Simple Match Up
This worksheet has a selection of mixed nomenclature for students to decipher and match up. This will suit older students who are practicing making connections between the chemical compounds and the written name. This can be completed online or printed out.
Learn More: pdfFiller
6. Animal Classification
We use nomenclature across several different subjects. With these live worksheets, you can begin to help students understand the naming process of certain animals. A fun way to facilitate this would be to ask students to research or guess the animal before matching.
Learn More: Live Worksheets
7. Periodic Puzzle
This periodic puzzle is a great crossword activity where students are given the chemical compound but must think of the written word to fill in the boxes. Turn this into a competition and allow students to race their classmates!
Learn More: Education.com
8. Include All Learners
Categorization is an important part of all learners’ journeys. Recognizing and being able to sort out and differentiate everyday objects is key for all. These autism-friendly resources will help you to teach the concept of assigning names to objects in an easy-to-understand, visual way.
Learn More: The Autism Helper
9. Interactive Games
This online interactive can be used as a friendly game between classmates or can be adapted for students to beat their own previous scores. Students are required to match the correct chemical compound to the symbol. This eliminates that symbol and students should then repeat the process until all answers have disappeared.
Learn More: Wordwall
10. ‘Hot Seating’
This easy-to-facilitate game requires one student to be in the ‘hot seat’ and be asked questions about a particular topic or word. This provides an effective way for students to practice nomenclature in a variety of different subject areas; asking questions or practicing formulas for their fellow students to work out.
Learn More: Education World
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