Language KOG

What is the Language KOG?

As with any discipline, there is a “language” for science. Because scientists often speak their own language it can be difficult for someone not familiar with the words and terms scientists use to understand what scientists mean. Even within science, different scientific disciplines tend to use a different “language.”

I remember when I was a new postdoc in the field of molecular biology. I had spent all of my prevoius training around chemists and physicists and I felt I had a pretty good handle on the scientific language. But then I joined a molecular biology lab and recognized that I was without the proper “language” to communicate to these folks. I was lost and confused for much of the first year.

For example, the following is an exerpt taken from a paper in a field that I was somewhat familiar with before leaving academia:

Here, we investigated the regulation of TFs expressed in a tissue-enriched manner in Arabidopsis roots. For 61 TFs, we created GFP reporter constructs driven by each TF’s upstream noncoding sequence (including the 5′UTR) fused to the GFP reporter gene alone or together with the TF’s coding sequence. We compared the visually detectable GFP patterns with endogenous mRNA expression patterns, as defined by a genome-wide microarray root expression map.

What? Did anyone get that? Don’t worry, I don’t think many people (including scientitists outside this field) would have understood much of what was being communicated. There are words and phrases like “regulation” “tissue-enriched” and “endogenous” that may be unfamiliar to someone outside this paraticular area of science. In addition, there are several acronyms – such as TF, GFP, 5′UTR, and mRNA, that act almost like a “secret code” and anyone unfamiliar with this “code” would not understand what was being said. This kind of terminology makes almost all scientific information inaccessible to people outside of the scientific discipline itself and this creates a dependency upon “experts” that I think is not necessary.

In simplier language the scientists from the above exerpt are looking at transcription factor genes (TFs) [DNA sequences that code for proteins called transcription factors] and they want to know how the genes are turned “on” and “off” – i.e. regulated. To tell when TFs genes are turned “on” or remain “off” (”reporter”) they used green fluroescent protein (GFP) genes (”constructs”). If the gene turns “on” they’ll see a green dot [visually detectable GFP pattern], and if the gene does not turn “on” they won’t.

So in the Language KOG I hope to remove some the mystery surrounding scientific language so that when a student reads a scientific work the language won’t confuse, bemuddle, or otherwise intimidate them out of having any interest in the subject they are reading. Learning to read scientific literature would be valuable for everyone – especially if the person happens to be a journalist or politician who may need to have a better grasp of what the scientific literature is actually reporting.

How does the Language KOG work?

The Language KOG will take one scientific term from each chapter and using a sequence of learning steps, the students will learn the Latin or Greek word root for the word and other words that share this word root. This will give the students a well-rounded understanding of the scientific term.

1. First the student will look at five other words that all share a common root and doing a little detective work, try to figure out the letters that make up the word root.

2. Next they will learn what the root means and from there try to guess the meanings of all six words. Once they have tried to guess the meanings, they will turn the page and look at the actual definitions for each word. They will also see any other Latin or Greek word roots, endings, or prefixes that may be in the other words.

3. Then they will play a mix and match game and test themselves on whether or not they have mastered all the definitions.

4. Finally, they will write a paragraph using all six of the words they have been introduced to.

Give it a try

This is the first chapter for the Language KOG for Chemistry Level I

kog-lang-chem-1a-1-1.pdf

The Language KOG comes as a workbook. It is currently available for Level I Chemistry, Level I Biology, and Level I Physics. It will also be sold as a part of the KOGs module for Level I Chemistry coming in March 2008.