Science Word Walls: 2 Painless Ways to Effectively Use Them

As I walked into my bare classroom, science word walls were on my brain. You see, all the tables and chairs were stacked in the middle of the room for summer cleaning. Anxiety was beginning to creep in as 4 very large blank walls were staring back at me. School started in 1.5 weeks, and I had nothing. My previous Google™ search produced many Pinterest™ perfect word walls, thus the reason science word walls were on my brain. These word walls would take up quite a bit of space. Just what I needed to cover those empty walls.

I made the word wall and got it all set up and looking cute. School starts, and I am delivering my first lesson. I look to the word wall for some help — something I can point my students to for a little more direction, a little more explanation. Nothing. It was just a wall full of words that students were completely unfamiliar with. There were no pictures, no meaning, and no context. Can you relate? Thought so. We have all been there. Maybe this is you right now.

So how do you effectively use science word walls? We’ve got you covered here. We will share what the traditional word walls are and how they can differ a little bit when it comes to the science classroom.

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Let’s dissect word walls, more specifically, word walls for science. We will discuss the benefits of science word walls, how to create them, and 2 painless ways to effectively use these word walls for middle school science.

What are word walls?

What are word walls, you ask? They are simply a collection of words that are displayed in a large way on a classroom wall. However in a science classroom, to get the biggest bang for your buck, designing them to be an interactive tool for students goes a long way. Science word walls will contain words that are content specific to a science domain.

Research on word walls

Research shows a strong relationship between student word knowledge and academic achievement (Stahl and Fairbanks 1986). That is just one citation. There is plenty of research on word walls. In fact, I have several articles linked below where you can get more in-depth insight if you so choose.

Based on research, science word walls:

illustrate relationships between science concepts.
organizes words so students can gain a deeper understanding.
builds upon academic language within science domains.
are most effective when students help create them.
need to contain visual supports such as colored pictures, photographs, or real objects (realia).
show a strong relationship between student word knowledge and academic achievement (Stahl and Fairbanks 1986).

Benefits of Interactive Word Walls

Remember how my first word wall was mostly useless to me as a teacher, and to my students? Now that I have adjusted my way of thinking about and using word walls, the benefits of science word walls include:

ongoing student exposure to high-frequency content-specific words, with pictures or realia (real objects).
students’ ability to see patterns and relationships between science domains and concepts. In essence, students begin to connect the dots.
providing reference support to students. You will begin to see students going back to the wall to make sure they are making the correct connection in their writing. Or, you will see students point to the wall as they are explaining a concept to another student during team discussions.
a student’s ability to grasp and organize information quickly because the science word walls are organized somewhat like a graphic organizer.
additional support is given to ELL students and struggling learners. Because of the pictures, models, and realia on the science word wall, students can quickly identify relationships between concepts.

A former student said that even though the science word walls were blacked out for a test, he could still visualize the wall and could remember the science word wall underneath the blackout. This helped him remember concepts and their relationship with other concepts. It also boosted his confidence by leaps and bounds as he was taking ownership of his own education.

Creating word walls

When creating word walls, keep the following in mind the following:

Word Choice: choose words that are content-specific and standards-driven. Find words that are most used within the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Duration: think about the amount of time you want to keep the word wall up. You can put them up sequentially throughout the year as you teach a unit of study. Or, you can build the framework at the beginning of the year and have students add to the science word walls as the year progresses.
Student Input: This could include preparing labels, writing definitions, creating illustrations, and suggesting relevant connections and patterns for the science word walls.
Design types: Depending on the science domain you are teaching, you can design the word wall as a concept map, or a flow chart. Your intent with this is to show relationships between concepts.

Word Walls Strategy: 2 Painless ways to use them

Because the life of a science teacher is beyond hectic, here are a couple of science word walls strategies you can implement:

#1 Make them Interactive Word Walls

Have you heard of interactive word walls? These really put students in the driver’s seat and you will begin to see students taking charge of their own learning. They become invested and excited as they begin making connections to the words outside of class.

Here are a few ideas to make interactive word walls:

As a teacher, you will first need to decide on what words you want to use for your interactive word walls. This will include searching through the science standards. We have put together a list of 48 highly used academic words within the Next Generation Science Standards, NGSS Crosscutting Concepts, and Common Core that you can find here.
Next, when creating interactive word walls, as a teacher you will need to design the wall into a concept map or some type of a graphic organizer format. Create the basic words/pictures and heading.
Incorporate a variety of activities into your interactive word walls instruction like guessing games, writing the word, using the words in journal prompts, reflection writing, and lab reports.
Finally, let the students do the work! Assign students objects or examples for finding realia to put up on the word wall. By doing this you are transferring ownership of the word wall to the class. This increases student engagement and learning.

#2 Word Walls for ELL students

Now that you have done the work of creating the framework for your science word walls, put a focus on these word walls for ELL students. Point them towards the goodness that is on the walls, and watch their understanding, confidence, and performance as a student grow!

As I (Sue) grew up in Mexico and Spain, I know firsthand how important visuals coupled with the written word are to a second language learner. While I wasn’t learning English, per se, I was learning a different language. I relied heavily on visuals to help me make meaning of the new language I was learning. Because of that, I have strived very hard to have a lot of visuals in my classroom. These visuals not only support ELL students, but they support the visual learner or students whose learning is below grade level.

When you point your ELLs towards the wall, following these strategies will augment the impact of science word walls for your students:

As the teacher, model how students can identify what a word means by quickly looking at the pictures. As a result, students will achieve a deeper understanding of the science concept.
Consequently, when keeping your word walls up all year long, students will be exposed to content-rich words daily, thus solidifying their language acquisition.
When making your word walls interactive, you are also including a huge piece of differentiation into your classroom. An interactive word wall, one that contains pictures and realia, is accessible to all students regardless of their ability to read English or read at grade level. ELL students are able to access the word because of the pictures and realia.

In Summary…

In summary, we have explored what word walls are and how science word walls differ. We found that research shows when a student’s work knowledge increases, their academic achievement also increases. We outlined the immense benefits that come with using science word walls. Finally, we outlined the 2 painless ways to efficiently use science word walls in the science classroom.

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