Dr. Adriana LaGier Publishes Research on Enhancing Vocabulary Acquisition in Science Education

June 23, 2025

Adriana LaGier, PhD in Biology, recently published an article in the Journal of College Science Teaching (JCST) titled “Capturing Student Attention Improves Vocabulary Gains.”

The JCST, a peer-reviewed publication of the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), highlights innovative teaching strategies for postsecondary science education. In this article, Dr. LaGier introduces and evaluates an original instructional tool called an “outside in word web” affix activity, designed to address the Common Core Anchor Standard CCSS.ELA.Literacy.CCRA.L.4, which focuses on determining or clarifying the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words.

The study demonstrated that physical engagement through haptic, or touch-based, learning, which increases student attention, was more effective in improving vocabulary acquisition than methods aimed at stimulating the action observation network (AON).

Special thanks were extended to Sarah van Rees, administrative assistant for the sciences, for her contributions in tallying and organizing the quiz assessments. 

Follow Dr. LaGier: @cellbiolady