Who’s That Speci-Mon? Using PokémonTM to Understand Biological Terminology Using Greek and Latin Roots

Abstract

We set out to create a fun and engaging activity using recognizable fictional characters, so students get a chance to practice using Greek and Latin roots to create binomial names. Students in biology courses are faced with a plethora of scientific jargon that are often composed of Greek and Latin roots that hint at their definitions. Students often struggle to understand and apply these terms due to a lack of familiarity with these roots. With this scaffolded activity we attempt to alleviate these concerns by first having students define biological terms by looking up the roots that the word is composed of. We then provide examples of real species and their binomial names with Greek and Latin roots to give examples of how species characteristics are used to create their scientific names. Lastly the students work in groups to group Pokémon™ into genera and give each Pokémon™ a binomial name. Students were engaged in the activity and reported that it helped improve their understanding of Greek and Latin roots for future projects and exams. This activity can enrich introductory and advanced biology courses of any size.