1. Supporting Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning Across the Grades and Curriculum
Adapted from Kate McNeil, Boston College, and Pam Pelletier, Boston Public Schools

2. New Frameworks for K-12 Science Education
“What engages all scientists, however, is a process of critique and argumentation. Because they examine each other’s ideas and look for flaws, controversy and debate among scientists are normal occurrences, neither exceptional nor extraordinary.”

3. New Frameworks for K-12 Science Education
By grade 12, students should be able to:
Construct a scientific argument showing how the data support the claim.
Identify possible weaknesses in scientific arguments, appropriate to the students’ level of knowledge, and discuss them using reasoning and evidence.

4. New Frameworks for K-12 Science Education
“Reading, interpreting, and producing text are fundamental practices of science in particular, and they constitute at least half of engineers’ and scientists’ total working time.”
“Communicating in written or spoke form is another fundamental practice of science; it requires scientists to describe the observations precisely, clarify their thinking, and justify their arguments.”
Multiple modalities-reading, writing, and talking.

5. What are Explanation and Argumentation?
Explanation-make sense of how or why a phenomenon occurred
Examples:
Explain why the biodiversity decreased
Explain what has happened to the pitch of bird song in cities
Argumentation-Defend or support knowledge claims through evidence, warrants and backing
Argue for your explanation for why the biodiversity decreased
Argue for your experimental design to study what is happening to the biodiversity

6. Framework for Scientific Argument
Claim-a conclusion about a problem
Evidence-scientific data that supports the claim
Reasoning -a justification that shows why the data counts as evidence to support the claim and includes appropriate scientific principles

7. Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning Framework

8. Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning Framework
Rebuttal
Not CLAIM2 because EVIDENCE and REASONING
Reasoning

9. Definition of Claim
A conclusion being drawn from the interpretation of facts
Role of the claim: a statement around which the argument is organized
A position that you take on an issue (such as in a debate)
An answer to a question or a problem
More “kid” friendly
A statement that answers or draws a conclusion to a question (allows opinion and fact)
A thesis statement
A complete statement that answers the question and will be supported by data

10. Definition of Evidence
Supporting details
Supporting data
Independent vs. dependent evidence
Comes from a source that’s not “you”
Can be observed in the same way by anybody
Constant observable feature
Information that supports the claim
Science: quantitative and qualitative data
Social Studies: quantitative and qualitative data, primary source material, prior knowledge, experience

11. Definition of Reasoning
An explanation of how the evidence supports the claim
It offers a way to interpret the evidence
The relationship between the claim and the evidence
The reasoning also persuades the reader that the evidence supports the claim
In science the reasoning is the scientific principle that explains the evidence
This knowledge varies amongst the grade levels
Allows students to demonstrate the inferential piece
Show the “why”

12. Does mass affect how quickly an object falls
Does mass affect how quickly an object falls? No, mass does not affect how quickly an object falls. (Claim) In the investigation, the blocks had different masses – 20 g., 30 g., 44 g., 123 g and 142 g. But the average time for all five blocks was about the same - between 1.5 and 1.8 seconds. (Evidence) Since the blocks had different masses but took about the same time to fall, I know that mass does not affect how quickly something falls. (Reasoning)

13. What will happen to the shark population if the phytoplankton populations die out? The shark population will die out.(Claim) The shark eats other fish such as the ocean fish and the lantern fish. The ocean fish and the lantern fish eat other organisms such as shrimp and copepods. The shrimp and copepods eat the phytoplankton. (Evidence) All of the other organisms in the food web depend on the phytoplankton, even if they do not directly eat them. Organisms are affected by other organisms in a food web even if they are not directly linked to them. (Reasoning)

14. Examine Student Work
Look at the examples of student work for grades 2, 5, 8, and 10.
Identify the claim, evidence, and reasoning.
Consider the following:
What are the strengths of the student work?
What are the areas of need?

15. Claim-Make conclusions from investigations.
Grade Span
Argumentation Focus
K-2
Claim + Evidence
Claim-Make conclusions from investigations.
Evidence-Use observations from investigations.
3-5
Claim + Evidence + Reasoning
Claim-Make conclusions.
Evidence-Use observations and measurements.
Reasoning-Provide a simple connection between claim and evidence using the big ideas they have learned in science.
6-8
Claim + Evidence + Reasoning (greater complexity)
Claim-Make conclusions
Evidence-Use observations and measurements. Distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate data. Consider sufficiency of evidence.
Reasoning-Provide a justification for why the evidence supports the claim using scientific principles.
9-12
Claim + Evidence+ Reasoning + Rebuttal
Reasoning-Provide justification for why the evidence supports the claim using scientific principles. Each piece of evidence many have a different justification.
Rebuttal-Describe what a counter claim is not appropriate by critiquing the alternative evidence and reasoning.

16. Variation #1 (potential starting place)
Claim-A statement that answers the question
Evidence-scientific data that supports the claim
Reasoning-a justification for why the evidence supports the claim using scientific principles

17. Variation #1
The plant that received more light grew taller. (claim) The plant with 24 hours of light grew 20 cm. The plant with 12 hours of light only grew 8 cm (evidence) Plants require light to grow and develop. This is why the plant that received 24 hours of light grew taller. (reasoning)

18. Variation #2 (more complex evidence)
Claim-A statement that answers the question
Evidence-scientific data that supports the claim
Data needs to be appropriate
Data needs to be sufficient
Reasoning- a justification for why the evidence supports the claim using scientific principles

19. Variation #2
The plant that received more light grew more. (claim) On average for the six plants that received 24 hours of light, they grew 20 cm, had six yellow flowers, had fifteen leaves and they were all vibrant green. On average for the six plants that received 12 hours of light, they grew 8 cm, had two yellow flowers, and had four leaves. Also, two of the plants had zero flowers. These plants were still vibrant green, but they were smaller with fewer flowers and leaves. (evidence) Plants require light to grow and develop. This is why the plant that received 24 hours of light grew more (reasoning).

20. Variation #3 (more complex reasoning)
Claim - A statement that answers the question
Evidence-scientific data that supports the claim
Data needs to be appropriate
Data needs to be sufficient
Reasoning-a justification for why the evidence supports the claim using scientific principles
each piece of evidence may have a different justification for why it supports the claim.

21. Variation #3
Plants need water, carbon dioxide and light to grow. (claim) On average for the six plants that received constant light, carbon dioxide and water, they grew 20 cm, had six yellow flowers, had fifteen leaves and they were all vibrant green. On average for the six plants that received 12 hours of light, limited carbon dioxide and limited water, they grew 8 cm, had two yellow flowers, and had four leaves. Also, two of the plants had zero flowers. These plants were still vibrant green, but they were smaller with fewer flowers and leaves. (evidence) Photosynthesis is the process where green plants produce sugar from water, carbon dioxide and light energy. Producing sugar is essential for plant growth and development. That is why the plants that received a constant source of water, carbon dioxide and light grew the most. (reasoning)

22. Variation #4 (Add rebuttal)
Claim-A statement that answers the question
Evidence-scientific data that supports the claim
Data needs to be appropriate
Data needs to be sufficient
Reasoning-a justification for why the evidence supports the claim using scientific principles
each piece of evidence may have a different justification for why it supports the claim
Rebuttal-describes alternative explanations and provides counter evidence
and reasoning for why the alternative is not appropriate.

23. Variation #4
Plants need water, carbon dioxide and light to grow. (claim) On average for the six plants that received constant light, carbon dioxide and water, they grew 20 cm, had six yellow flowers, had fifteen leaves and they were all vibrant green. On average for the six plants that received 12 hours of light, limited carbon dioxide and limited water, they grew 8 cm, had two yellow flowers, and had four leaves. Also, two of the plants had zero flowers. These plants were still vibrant green, but they were smaller with fewer flowers and leaves. (evidence) Photosynthesis is the process where green plants produce sugar from water, carbon dioxide and light energy. Producing sugar is essential for plant growth and development. That is why the plants that received a constant source of water, carbon dioxide and light grew the most. (reasoning) Our experimental design just limited the amount of air the plants received not specifically the amount of carbon dioxide. So you could argue that plants need water, air and light. But we know that the process of photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide and not another gas (like oxygen), which is why we concluded specifically that the carbon dioxide was required for growth. If we could limit just the carbon dioxide in our design, we would have better evidence for this claim. (rebuttal)

24. Conclusion
The claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) framework can be used in constructing arguments in science.
Make the scientific argumentation framework explicit (claim, evidence, and reasoning).
The CER framework can be used across reading, talking, and writing.
The complexity of the CER framework and students’ work should increase over elementary, middle and high school.