Review It
Using the knowledge you have gained, continue reading and thinking about the strategies necessary to determine the meaning of the highlighted vocabulary.
Remember to ask yourself:
- What is the central idea in the text?
- What context clues surround the highlighted words?
- Are there any synonyms or antonyms given for the highlighted words?
- What prefixes or suffixes are evident? What do they mean?
- Are there any words that are repeated from previous sections? What did those words mean and how does knowing their meaning help you understand this section?
You will now engage in activities that require you to apply the meaning of previous vocabulary words from the text in order to help you define new vocabulary.
Read the following excerpt from the Newsela article "Unwrapped mummies reveal effects of climate change"opens in new window, and then complete the activity below.
What's Ailing The Mummies?
8 This may not be something that can be definitively blamed on global climate change caused by humans, cautioned Ralph Mitchell, a biologist at Harvard University. But it is a change nonetheless. "Our colleagues in northern Chile say it's terribly obvious that the place is foggy a lot more than it ever was," Mitchell said. He teamed up with the Chilean researchers to figure out what was ailing the mummies.
9 Many mummies found in the 1980s had no problems until 10 years ago. At that point they started to decay, he said. That alone suggests climate might be a factor in what is happening.
10 So Mitchell and two other researchers from Harvard worked with Sepulveda to figure out what was going on. They aimed to find out if climate change was in fact the reason for mummy decay. Their theory was that more moisture from the air had enabled bacteria to start to eat away at the mummies.
11 They studied samples of mummy skin and dried pig skin, in various conditions. They examined which tiny organisms were living on and in the skin. The result, Mitchell said, was the finding that bacteria was taking advantage of a more humid environment to "use the skin as a nutrient and start to break it down." These were common skin bacteria, among others. They were able to live on the skin because of the change in environmental conditions.
– Newselaopens in new window, March 18, 2015
