Name: ____________________________________________________ Date: ______________________________ Period: ________

Getting Past “Just Because”

Claim, Evidence and Reasoning Post-test
Directions: Read the short story below and then answer the questions.

Two biology students, Christina and Andrew, set up an experiment to help them determine how light
affects plant growth. The students placed bean seedlings in three locations with their classroom and
measured the growth of the bean seedlings over the next five days. Bean seedlings that were placed in
a dark closet grew 5 cm in 3 days, but then stopped growing. Bean seedlings that were placed on a
countertop away from the window grew 10 cm in 5 days. Bean seedlings that were placed on a
windowsill with full sunlight grew 15 cm in 5 days when. Andrew and Christina discussed the results of
their experiment.

Christina: “Well, light helps plant grow. The plants on the countertop got some light and were able to
grow. The plants in the window got more light, and that’s why those plants grew the most.”

Andrew: “That’s true, but the plants in the closet did grow. So, plants must not always need light to grow.”

Christina: “Well I remember learning in class that light gives plants energy, and they need the energy to grow. The plants
in the closet must have had some energy stored up. But without light, they ran out of energy and stopped
growing.”

1. How does light affect plant growth?

___________________________________________________________________________________________

2. List the pieces of evidence from the story that make you think that:
1. __________________________________________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Why do these pieces of evidence make you think that light affects plant growth? Explain:
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Evidence-Based Writing in Science by Jeremy S. Peacock is licensed under a Creative

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5. In science, why is it important to have more than one piece of evidence to support your claim?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

6. In science, why is it important to explain why the evidence supports your claim?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Write a C.E.R. essay answering the question “How does light affect plant growth?”

Evidence-Based Writing in Science by Jeremy S. Peacock is licensed under a Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Review of info: Claim: a statement about the solution to a problem – what you think you know
Evidence: scientific data to support your claim - measureable
Reasoning: justification (which means you have to back it up) which shows why the data supports
your claim using SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES

Find the Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning in the following paragraphs: Underline the Claim; Circle the Evidence; and put a box around the
Reasoning.

1. Life Science: A common type of asexual reproduction found in nature is called Mitosis. Mitosis requires less energy than sexual reproduction does.
Mitosis can occur in seconds and does not require a mate to reproduce. Sexual reproduction requires two compatible parents. It also requires time to
produce the egg and sperm cells and then for fertilization to occur. Energy is required to find a compatible mate, produce sex cells, and for fertilization.
Therefore Mitosis requires less energy than sexual reproduction does.

2. Physical Science: Cold air is more dense than hot air. When I filled a 9 centimeter diameter balloon with cold air the mass was 1 gram and when I
measured the mass of the same size balloon with hot air it was 0.5 grams. When molecules are cooled they move closer together and when they are heated
up they move farther apart. Because of this more molecules can fit into a balloon when the air going in is cold than when the air going in is warm.

Now see if you can make your own claim, evidence, and reasoning using what you know about Sammy’s Plant Growth Experiment
this Biology topic. Height on Height on
Day 1 Day 5
3. Sammy wants to see if plants really do grow better in sunlight. He uses 3 plants of the same type Plant A 12 cm 14 cm
and size in 3 locations. Plant A is placed on Mrs. Shaw’s countertop in the center of the room, Plant
B is placed inside the cabinet, and Plant C was placed near window sill. After 5 days Sammy Plant B 12 cm 13 cm
measures the growth of each plant and documents it in the table below. Plant C 12 cm 16 cm
Claim: ____________________________________________________________________
Evidence: _______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reasoning: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rubric

Evidence-Based Writing in Science by Jeremy S. Peacock is licensed under a Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Claim
A statement or conclusion
that answers the original
question/ problem.
Evidence
Scientific data that supports
the claim. The data needs
to be appropriate and
sufficient to support the
claim.
Reasoning
A justification that connects
the evidence to the claim. It
shows why the data counts
as evidence by using
appropriate and sufficient
scientific principles.
Evidence-Based Writing in Science by Jeremy S. Peacock is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
4 3 2 1
Advanced Proficient Progressing Beginning
 Makes a claim that is Makes a claim that is…  Makes a relevant and  Does not make a claim, or
relevant, accurate, and  Relevant (Directly & clearly accurate but incomplete makes an inaccurate or
complete. responds to question) claim. irrelevant claim.
 Contrasts the claim to an  Accurate (Consistent with
evidence and scientific principles)
alternative claim.
 Complete (Complete sentence
that stands alone)
 Provides appropriate and Provides evidence to  Provides appropriate, but  Does not provide
sufficient evidence to support the claim that is… insufficient evidence to evidence, or only
support claim.  Appropriate (Scientific data or support claim. May provides inappropriate
 Discusses evidence that information from observations, include some evidence (Evidence that
investigations, data analysis, or
would support alternative valid scientific sources) inappropriate evidence. does not support claim).
claim.  Sufficient (Enough evidence to
support the claim)
 Provides reasoning that Explanation provides  Provides reasoning that  Does not provide
clearly connects the reasoning that is… connects the evidence to reasoning, or only
evidence to the claim.  Clear (Clearly communicated and the claim. May include provides inappropriate
 Includes appropriate and goes beyond repeating claim and some scientific principles reasoning.
evidence)
sufficient scientific or justification for why
 Connected (Explains why the
principles to explain why evidence is important or why it is the evidence supports the
the evidence supports the relevant) claim, but not sufficient.
claim.  Integrated (Links the evidence
 Explains why the to an important disciplinary idea
and crosscutting concept)
alternative claim is
inaccurate.
References:

Graphic Organizer & Supporting Information

Claim-Evidence-Reasoning Mini-tasks in the LDC Curriculum Library
CSQT Framework, Downloaded from: http://www.teacherweb.com/de/christianahighschool/corsello/csqt_dstp_prep.ppt
Llewelyn, D., & Rajesh, H. (2011). Fostering argumentation skills: Doing what real scientists really do. Science Scope, 35 (1), 22-28.
Sampson, V., and Schleigh, S. (2012). Scientific Argumentation in Biology, 30 Classroom Activities. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press

Rubric Adapted from

McNeill, K.L., and Krajcik, J. (2012). Supporting grade 5-8 students in constructing explanations in science: The claim, evidence, and reasoning framework
for talk and writing. Boston: Pearson.
Rewitz, W. (2011). Make Your Probe Explanation Cl-Ev-R. Downloaded from http://www.uncoveringstudentideas.org/resources/tips-and-strategies.
Sampson, V., and Schleigh, S. (2012). Scientific Argumentation in Biology, 30 Classroom Activities. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.

Evidence-Based Writing in Science by Jeremy S. Peacock is licensed under a Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.