1. Watch this video clip: Is the girl’s dad an alien?

2. Claim: The girl’s dad is an alien.

3. Claim: Her dad is an alien.
Evidence:
He drinks a green juice and wears strange clothes.
Evidence:
He travels in this device that looks like a space ship.
Evidence:
He makes these gargling noises in his throat.
Reasoning: The girl’s dad is an alien because dads don’t normally drink green juice they drink coffee, and they drive in cars not in space ships.

4. Does she have sufficient evidence to convince you that her dad is an alien?
If you said yes, I have a nice bridge to sell you in Brooklyn….!
For each piece of “evidence,” provide an alternate explanation showing her dad is just an ordinary human.

5. When we write a scientific explanation, we use the C-E-R format...

6. Claim
Most labs originate with an experimental question. In this scenario, it is just a question:
(Is the girl’s dad an alien?)
Your claim is the concluding statement that answers your original question.
(The girl’s dad is an alien.)
The claim is usually one sentence in length.
It must be accurate, specific, and completely answer the question.

7. Evidence
The evidence is all of the scientific data that supports your claim.
Evidence must be sufficient and relevant to your claim. Not all data is considered evidence!
Most evidence is specific data from the lab. This can come from your own group or another group in the class.
It is important to have numerous pieces of evidence in order to support your claim adequately!

8. Reasoning
Reasoning is the explanation that connects your claim to the evidence that supports it.
It shows why the data you chose counts as evidence.
This explanation acts as a “conclusion” of your experiment.
It shows a detailed understanding of the scientific principles involved and uses correct science vocabulary.
The reasoning should usually be at least a few sentences in length.

9. Real-World Claims People make claims all of the time.
Friends, parents, and just about every commercial on TV are all making claims about something.
Think about some claims you have heard recently.

10. Some examples you may have come up with...
Advertisements -- Our brand is better than everyone else’s brand.
Politicians’ claims -- I am the best candidate.
Bottled water is purer than tap water.
Magnetic bracelets cure all kinds of ailments.
etc….

11. Now you are going to practice making a claim based on evidence:
Look at the picture on the next slide. Make observations and inferences as to what has happened.
2. Then read the scenario on the slide after that.

12. Slip or Trip? Was this an accident or a crime?

13. What we know . . .
In her diamond jewelry and satin evening dress, Mrs. Queenie Volupides was a sight to behold. When she tore out of the house after a tiff with her husband, Arthur, she went to the country club where there was a party going on. She left the club shortly before one o’clock in the morning and invited a few friends to her home for a bite to eat. Her friends got to her house about ten minutes after Queenie did, who met them at the door and said, “Something terrible happened. Arthur slipped and fell on the stairs. He was coming down for another drink—he still had the glass in his hand--- and I think he’s dead. Oh, my!---what shall I do?” The autopsy conducted later concluded that Arthur died from a wound on the head.

14. Let's apply this to our picture . . .
Claim: Do you think Queenie is telling the truth? Make a claim. Write it in your Journal.
Evidence: List all of the related observations and test results that support your claim.
Reasoning: Explain why your evidence supports your claim. (Pretend you are a detective trying to solve the case!)