A suggested Motivational Method for Teaching Scientific Terminology, With a Practical Example

Using a reductionist approach, the motivational method for teaching scientific terminology aims at breaking down terms and their definitions into separate components, i.e. morphemes and their semantic features, rather than establishing a connection between terms and their definitions as holistic units. In other words, the ultimate goal of this method is achieving “semantic motivation,” (as opposed to “sign-to-sign motivation”) which involves a logical interface between each morpheme and its corresponding semantic features. The advantages of employing this method can be far-reaching in terms of its impact upon the learner’s ability to understand, analyze, and even produce scientific terms. Through a consistent implementation of the motivational method, not only will we be able to facilitate the learning of scientific concepts, their definitions, and relevant terms more effectively and systematically, but we can also empower the learners to use their productive thinking skills both to comprehend the existing terms (semasiological approach) and to coin new terms when encountering new concepts (onomasiological approach).