Unit 1

In Unit 1, you’ll enter the world of Latin and Greek roots and learn how to identify and classify living organisms.

Lesson 1: Introduction to Bioscientific Word-Building

  • Defining prefixes, suffixes, bases
  • Defining parts of speech
  • Introduction to Greek and Latin roots

Lesson 2: How Latin and Greek Work

  • Greek and Latin alphabets
  • Transliteration of Greek
  • Spelling conventions
  • Contraction and assimilation

Lesson 3: Building Vocabulary

  • Defining morphology
  • Building words from Greek and Latin roots using the rules and concepts defined in Lessons 1 and 2
  • Defining Greek and Latin endings
  • How to form plurals

Lesson 4: Taxonomy

  • Introduction to biological classification system
  • Rank-order naming
  • Classification systems
    • Aristotelian system
    • Middle-Ages Islamic systems by al-Dinawari and al-Jahiz
    • Ray and Tournefort’s plant systems
    • Linnaean system

Lesson 5: Naming Conventions

  • Common Greek and Latin roots used in biological names, such as
    • Colors
    • Body parts
    • Shapes
    • Descriptors
  • Latin names of animals
  • Decolonizing names

Project 1: Scientific Naming

  • Applying knowledge of Greek and Latin roots to interpreting scientific names