Urban legend suggests that an introductory college-level science textbook may have more new vocabulary in it than an introductory language text. While I’ve not tested that claim, there certainly is a lot of vocabulary in an introductory astronomy course. Despite these terms (probably) being provided in the same language that is spoken in your classroom, learning this new scientific language can be challenging. Some of the terms used in astronomy have very specific meanings that might conflict with our everyday use of the words1,2—which can cause confusion among students who are trying to learn about, well, everything in the universe. Here I describe some of the terms whose vernacular meanings may make them difficult for students to understand in the scientific context.
The first example is a common description that stars are “powered” through burning.3 This is problematic because of the language used by the community:...
