Science can feel overwhelming when students encounter unfamiliar terms and complex concepts. Yet understanding key vocabulary isn’t just about memorizing definitions—it’s about unlocking a deeper comprehension of how our world works. When your child confidently knows the difference between “evaporation” and “condensation,” or can explain what “photosynthesis” means in their own words, they’re not just preparing for examinations—they’re developing critical thinking skills that apply far beyond the classroom.

At Seashell Academy by Suntown Education Centre, we believe that mastering science terminology should be an engaging journey rather than a stressful memorization exercise. This comprehensive cheat sheet brings together the most important science keywords and definitions that Primary 1-6 students need to know, organized in a way that makes learning natural and meaningful. Each term includes clear explanations and real-world examples that help students see science in their everyday lives—from the breakfast table to the playground.

Whether you’re supporting your child’s homework, preparing for upcoming assessments, or simply nurturing their curiosity about the natural world, this guide provides the foundation for confident, sustainable learning. Let’s explore these essential science concepts together, building understanding one term at a time.

Why Science Vocabulary Matters

Scientific vocabulary serves as the foundation for understanding complex concepts in Primary Science. When students grasp key terms, they can better comprehend exam questions, articulate their observations clearly, and connect different topics within the syllabus. More importantly, a strong vocabulary base helps children feel confident during lessons and assessments, reducing anxiety and fostering genuine curiosity.

The Singapore Primary Science curriculum builds progressively across six years, introducing terminology that becomes increasingly sophisticated. Early exposure to these terms—presented in accessible, memorable ways—gives students the advantage of familiarity when they encounter more challenging applications in upper primary levels. This aligns perfectly with the Seashell Academy approach of sustainable growth, where foundational knowledge prevents burnout and builds lasting understanding.

Living Things: Essential Terms

Understanding what makes something “alive” forms the cornerstone of biological science. These fundamental terms help students distinguish living organisms from non-living objects and understand the characteristics all living things share.

Diversity and Classification

Living Things: Organisms that can grow, reproduce, respond to their environment, need food and water, breathe, and eventually die. Examples include plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. Your pet hamster is a living thing, but the toy robot that moves around is not—it cannot grow or reproduce on its own.

Non-Living Things: Objects that do not possess the characteristics of life. They don’t grow, reproduce, or need food. A rock, a pencil, and a glass of water are all non-living things, even though water is essential for life.

Classification: The process of grouping living things based on their similar characteristics. Scientists classify organisms to make studying them easier. For instance, we might classify animals as vertebrates (with backbones) or invertebrates (without backbones).

Vertebrates: Animals with a backbone or spinal column. This group includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Humans, chickens, snakes, and goldfish are all vertebrates despite looking very different from each other.

Invertebrates: Animals without a backbone. This diverse group includes insects, spiders, jellyfish, snails, and worms. In fact, about 97% of all animal species are invertebrates! The butterfly in your garden and the earthworm in the soil are both invertebrates.

Mammals: Warm-blooded vertebrates that have hair or fur and feed their young with milk produced by the mother. Dogs, cats, whales, bats, and humans are all mammals. Even dolphins swimming in the ocean are mammals, not fish!

Habitat: The natural environment where an organism lives. A habitat provides everything an organism needs to survive—food, water, shelter, and space. A pond is a habitat for frogs and dragonflies, while a tree might be a habitat for squirrels and birds.

Systems: The Human Body

Digestive System: The group of organs that breaks down food into nutrients that the body can absorb and use for energy, growth, and repair. It includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and intestines. When you eat an apple, your digestive system works to extract the vitamins, sugars, and fiber your body needs.

Circulatory System: The system responsible for transporting blood, oxygen, and nutrients throughout the body. It consists of the heart, blood vessels, and blood. Your heart beats approximately 100,000 times each day, pumping blood to every part of your body.

Respiratory System: The organs involved in breathing and gas exchange. It includes the nose, trachea (windpipe), and lungs. When you breathe in, your respiratory system takes in oxygen that your body needs, and when you breathe out, it removes carbon dioxide waste.

Organ: A part of the body made up of tissues that performs a specific function. Your heart, lungs, stomach, and brain are all organs. Each organ has a special job, and many organs work together in systems to keep you healthy.

Plant Life and Processes

Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants make their own food using sunlight, carbon dioxide from the air, and water from the soil. This process occurs in the leaves and produces glucose (sugar) and oxygen as a by-product. The oxygen we breathe comes largely from photosynthesis—plants are truly the Earth’s food factories!

Chlorophyll: The green pigment found in plant leaves that absorbs sunlight for photosynthesis. Chlorophyll is what gives most plants their green color. In autumn, when chlorophyll breaks down, we can see the other colors that were hidden in the leaves all along.

Stomata: Tiny pores (openings) found mainly on the underside of leaves that allow gases to enter and exit the plant. Through stomata, plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. These microscopic openings also allow water vapor to escape during transpiration.

Pollination: The transfer of pollen from the male part of a flower (anther) to the female part (stigma), which allows plants to reproduce and form seeds. Bees, butterflies, birds, and wind can all act as pollinators. Without pollination, we wouldn’t have many of the fruits and vegetables we eat.

Germination: The process by which a seed begins to grow and develop into a new plant. Seeds need the right conditions—usually warmth, moisture, and sometimes light—to germinate. When you plant a bean seed and it sprouts, you’re witnessing germination in action.

Materials and Matter

Everything around us is made of matter, and understanding the properties of different materials helps students make sense of how objects behave and interact. These concepts appear throughout the Primary Science curriculum and connect directly to everyday experiences.

Matter: Anything that has mass and takes up space. Solids, liquids, and gases are all forms of matter. Your pencil case is matter, the water you drink is matter, and even the air you breathe is matter (though you can’t see it).

States of Matter: The three common forms matter can take—solid, liquid, and gas. Water demonstrates all three states: ice (solid), liquid water, and steam or water vapor (gas). Matter can change from one state to another when heated or cooled.

Solid: A state of matter with a definite shape and volume. The particles in a solid are tightly packed together and vibrate in place. A book, a desk, and an ice cube are all solids—they maintain their shape unless a force acts upon them.

Liquid: A state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape—it takes the shape of its container. The particles in a liquid are close together but can move around each other. Pour juice from a bottle into a glass, and the juice changes shape but the amount stays the same.

Gas: A state of matter with no definite shape or volume. Gas particles are far apart and move freely, spreading out to fill whatever space is available. The helium in a balloon and the carbon dioxide in fizzy drinks are examples of gases.

Melting: The change from solid to liquid state when a substance is heated. Ice melts into water when you leave it out of the freezer. Different materials have different melting points—chocolate melts easily in your hand, but iron needs extremely high temperatures to melt.

Freezing: The change from liquid to solid state when a substance is cooled. When you put water in the freezer, it freezes into ice. This is the reverse process of melting.

Evaporation: The process by which a liquid changes into a gas, typically at the surface and at temperatures below boiling point. When you hang wet clothes outside, the water evaporates into the air. Puddles disappear after rain because the water evaporates.

Condensation: The change from gas to liquid state when vapor is cooled. The water droplets that form on the outside of a cold drink on a hot day appear because water vapor in the air condenses when it touches the cold surface. This is the opposite of evaporation.

Boiling: The rapid change from liquid to gas throughout the liquid when it reaches a specific temperature (boiling point). When water boils at 100°C, bubbles of water vapor form throughout the liquid, not just at the surface like evaporation.

Energy: Forms and Transformations

Energy is what makes things happen—it powers everything from our bodies to machines to natural phenomena. Understanding energy and how it transforms helps students grasp fundamental scientific principles that explain countless everyday observations. Our Mathematics Programme often reinforces these concepts through practical problem-solving.

Energy: The ability to do work or cause change. Energy comes in many forms and cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another. You need energy to run, play, and think—this energy originally comes from the food you eat.

Light Energy: Energy that we can see, which travels in waves and allows us to observe the world around us. The sun is our primary source of light energy. Light energy from a lamp helps you read at night, and light energy from the sun enables photosynthesis in plants.

Heat Energy (Thermal Energy): The energy related to temperature—the movement of particles in a substance. When you warm your hands by rubbing them together, you’re converting kinetic energy into heat energy. Heat flows from hotter objects to cooler ones until they reach the same temperature.

Sound Energy: Energy produced by vibrating objects that travels in waves through air, water, or solids. When you pluck a guitar string, it vibrates and produces sound energy. The louder the sound, the more energy is involved in creating it.

Electrical Energy: Energy carried by moving electrons through a conductor. This is the energy that powers lights, computers, and appliances in your home. Electrical energy can be easily transformed into other forms—into light in a bulb, heat in a toaster, or sound in a speaker.

Kinetic Energy: The energy of motion. Any object that’s moving has kinetic energy—a rolling ball, a flying bird, or a person running. The faster something moves or the heavier it is, the more kinetic energy it has.

Potential Energy: Stored energy that has the potential to do work. A book on a high shelf has gravitational potential energy because of its position. When it falls, this potential energy converts to kinetic energy. A stretched rubber band also has potential energy that’s released when you let it go.

Energy Conversion (Transformation): The change of energy from one form to another. When you switch on a torch, chemical energy stored in the battery converts to electrical energy, which then converts to light energy. Plants convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy stored in food through photosynthesis.

Forces and Motion

Forces shape how objects move and interact with each other. These concepts help students understand everything from why they need to push harder to move heavy objects to how magnets work.

Force: A push or pull that can change an object’s motion, shape, or direction. Forces can make things start moving, stop moving, speed up, slow down, or change direction. When you kick a football, you apply a force that makes it move.

Friction: A force that opposes motion between two surfaces that are in contact. Friction can be helpful (it lets you walk without slipping) or unhelpful (it slows down your bicycle and wears out the tires). Rough surfaces create more friction than smooth surfaces.

Gravity: The force that pulls objects toward each other. On Earth, gravity pulls everything toward the center of the planet, which is why dropped objects fall down. Gravity keeps us on the ground and the Moon orbiting around Earth.

Magnet: An object that produces a magnetic force, which can attract certain metals (like iron, nickel, and cobalt) or repel other magnets. Every magnet has two poles—north and south. Opposite poles attract each other, while like poles repel.

Magnetic Force: The invisible force of attraction or repulsion between magnets or between magnets and magnetic materials. This force can work through certain materials—you can pick up a paper clip through a piece of paper using a magnet.

Cycles and Processes

Nature operates in patterns and cycles that repeat continuously. Understanding these processes helps students see the interconnected nature of science and develop systems thinking—a key component of the Seashell Academy approach to holistic learning.

Water Cycle: The continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of Earth. Water evaporates from oceans and lakes, condenses into clouds, falls as rain or snow, and flows back to water bodies. This cycle has been happening for billions of years, constantly recycling Earth’s water.

Life Cycle: The series of changes an organism goes through from birth to death. Different organisms have different life cycles. A butterfly’s life cycle includes egg, caterpillar (larva), pupa (chrysalis), and adult butterfly. Understanding life cycles helps us appreciate how living things grow and reproduce.

Food Chain: A sequence showing how energy and nutrients pass from one organism to another in an ecosystem. A simple food chain might be: grass → grasshopper → frog → snake. Each arrow means “is eaten by.” Food chains always start with plants (producers) because they make their own food through photosynthesis.

Producer: An organism that can make its own food, usually through photosynthesis. Green plants are producers—they use sunlight to create food from carbon dioxide and water. Producers form the foundation of all food chains because they convert the sun’s energy into chemical energy that other organisms can use.

Consumer: An organism that cannot make its own food and must eat other organisms to survive. Animals are consumers. Herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat other animals, and omnivores eat both plants and animals. Humans are omnivores—we consume both producers (vegetables, fruits) and other consumers (meat, fish).

Adaptation: A special characteristic that helps an organism survive in its environment. Adaptations develop over many generations. A polar bear’s thick white fur is an adaptation—the thickness keeps it warm, and the white color provides camouflage in the snow. A cactus’s ability to store water is an adaptation for desert survival.

How to Use This Cheat Sheet Effectively

Simply having a list of definitions isn’t enough—the real learning happens when students actively engage with these terms and connect them to their experiences. At Seashell Academy by Suntown Education Centre, we encourage students to transform passive memorization into active understanding through several proven strategies.

First, encourage your child to create their own examples for each term based on observations from their daily life. When they can explain “evaporation” by referencing wet hair drying after swimming or “friction” by describing how their shoes grip the floor, they’ve moved beyond memorization to genuine comprehension. This practice of finding real-world connections strengthens retention and makes science feel relevant rather than abstract.

Second, use the mind-mapping approach that forms part of our teaching methodology. Have your child draw connections between related terms—for instance, linking photosynthesis, chlorophyll, and producer, or connecting the water cycle terms with the states of matter. Visual representations help students see how concepts interrelate, building a web of understanding rather than isolated facts.

Third, practice explaining concepts in their own words. If your child can teach a term to you or a sibling without looking at the definition, they’ve truly internalized it. This technique also builds the communication skills needed for open-ended exam questions where students must demonstrate understanding, not just recall facts.

Finally, revisit this cheat sheet regularly rather than cramming before exams. Spaced repetition—reviewing information at increasing intervals—strengthens long-term memory. Perhaps review five terms together each Sunday, or challenge your child to use one science term correctly in conversation each day. This sustainable, stress-free approach aligns with our philosophy at Seashell Academy, where we prioritize building confident, resilient learners who develop genuine understanding rather than temporary exam preparation.

For students in Primary 4-6 who are preparing for PSLE, consider pairing science vocabulary practice with strengthening complementary skills. Our specialized programmes in P4 Chinese, P5 Chinese, and P6 Chinese similarly emphasize deep understanding and real-world application, creating a holistic learning experience across subjects.

Mastering science vocabulary opens doors to deeper understanding and academic confidence. This cheat sheet provides the essential terms Primary students need, but remember that true learning happens when these definitions transform from words on a page into concepts that make sense of the world around us. When your child can watch rain falling and think “water cycle,” or observe a plant growing toward sunlight and recognize “photosynthesis,” they’re developing the scientific literacy that will serve them throughout their education and beyond.

At Seashell Academy by Suntown Education Centre, we believe that sustainable learning comes from understanding, not memorization. Like a pearl forming gradually within its protective shell, genuine knowledge develops layer by layer through patient, nurturing guidance. Whether your child is just beginning their science journey in Primary 1 or preparing for PSLE, building strong foundational vocabulary creates the confidence needed to tackle increasingly complex concepts without overwhelm or burnout.

Use this cheat sheet as a living document—one that your child returns to regularly, adds their own notes and examples to, and uses as a springboard for curiosity-driven exploration. Science isn’t just about definitions; it’s about asking questions, making observations, and discovering how our remarkable world works. By supporting your child’s vocabulary development with patience and real-world connections, you’re nurturing not just exam success, but a lifelong love of learning.