SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN ENGAGING IN ARGUMENTS WITH THE

CLAIM, EVIDENCE, AND REASONING FRAMEWORK

INFORMATION COMPILED FROM LDOE/NSTA WEBINAR/LONTARRIS WILLIAMS

ENGAGING IN ARGUMENTS WITH THE C.E.R FRAMEWORK IS NOT JUST USED IN SCIENCE:IT CAN BE USED ACROSS THE CURRICULUM EXAMPLE TASK ITEMS

ELA

After reading the two selections, which lifestyle do you think is better? Do you believe the simple, country life is better or do you prefer the busy, city life? Support your opinion (Claim) with (Evidence) from both text selections.

MATH

In an orchard there are only Cortland apple trees and Macintosh apple trees. There are a total of 168 apple trees. In the orchard there are 6 rows of Cortland apple trees and 8 rows of Macintosh apple trees. Each row in the orchard contains the same number of apple trees. What is the total number of Cortland apple trees in the

orchard? (Claim) Show your work or explain how you know (Evidence).

THINKING BACK TO THE STATE SCIENCE TASK POWERPOINT: DISCIPLINARY LITERACY AS IT RELATES TO THE TASK

SCIENCE TEACHERS SHOULD HELP STUDENTS BECOME CRITICALLY LITERATE IN SCIENCE BY…

EVALUATING SOURCES

MAKING CLAIMS

USING EVIDENCE

CONSTRUCTING ARGUMENTS

INTRODUCTION TO THE C-E-R FRAMEWORK *THIS CAN BE CREATED AS AN ANCHOR CHART!CLAIM-(HOW DO I WANT TO ANSWER THE KEY QUESTION?) IT TELLS WHAT WE LEARNED FROM THE LESSON/TEXT/GRAPH/CHART (I BELIEVE)EVIDENCE- BACKS UP THE CLAIM. TELLS HOW WE GOT THE CLAIM: USE DATA WE OBSERVED..(I BELIEVE THIS BECAUSE/BASED ON)SCIENTIFIC REASONING- USE SCIENTIFIC TERMS AND/OR PRINCIPLES TO EXPLAIN THE EVIDENCE.IS THIS A CLAIM?

QUESTION: ARE SOAP AND FAT THE SAME SUBSTANCE?

WHAT CONSTITUTES AS GOOD EVIDENCE?

WHAT IS AN ARGUMENT?

The practice of defending one’s explanations by carefully ruling out other alternative explanations and building the case that the data collected is sufficient and appropriate to serve as evidence for the current claim.

PARTS OF AN ARGUMENT

1.STARTS WITH A QUESTION

2.A CLAIM IS MADE

3.EVIDENCE IS PROVIDED

4.TEACHER CAN PROVIDE SUPPORT/ PROBE

5.OTHERS MAY CHALLENGE THE CLAIM BEING MADE

Task: Identify the Parts of an Argument in this scenario.A sixth grade class was exploring the properties of matter.

The teacher began class by stating :

Based on the experiment we did yesterday, is gas matter? (Mark replied): I think gas is matter. (Teacher): Why do you say that? What evidence do you have? (Mark): Because yesterday when we blew up the balloon and then

weighed it, it weighed more than the empty balloon. So that means the gases that make up air has mass and if something has mass, it must be matter. And because I could blow it up it also takes up space. So air has mass and volume, and is matter!

(Kim quickly shot up her hand and said): I think it was a bad experiment. We used air from our lungs to blow up the balloon and air from our lungs has water in it. You could even see the water droplets on the side of the balloon.

(The teacher than asked): What do the rest of you think? (Leah stated): Well, I agree with Kim about the air from our lungs

having moisture in them. But I also agree with Josh, the air is matter. I would like to do another experiment where we add air in another way.

PARTS OF AN ARGUMENTS1.STARTS WITH A QUESTION2.A CLAIM IS MADE 3.EVIDENCE IS PROVIDED 4.TEACHER CAN PROVIDE SUPPORT/ PROBE5.OTHERS MAY CHALLENGE THE CLAIM BEING MADE

PARTS OF AN ARGUMENTA sixth grade class was exploring the properties of matter.

The teacher began class by stating :

Based on the experiment we did yesterday, is gas matter? (a question)

Mark replied: I think gas is matter. (a claim)

Teacher: Why do you say that? What evidence do you have? (teacher support)

Mark: Because yesterday when we blew up the balloon and then weighed it, it weighed more than the empty balloon. So that means the gases that make up air has mass and if something has mass, it must be matter. And because I could blow it up it also takes up space. So air has mass and volume, and is matter! (provides evidence)

Kim quickly shot up her hand and said: I think it was a bad experiment. We used air from our lungs to blow up the balloon and air from our lungs has water in it. You could even see the water droplets on the side of the balloon. (a counter argument that gas has mass by calling into question the experimental design)

The teacher than asked: What do the rest of you think? (teacher support)

Leah stated: Well, I agree with Kim about the air from our lungs having moisture in them. But I also agree with Josh, the air is matter. I would like to do another experiment where we add air in another way.

PARTS OF AN ARGUMENTS1.STARTS WITH A QUESTION2.A CLAIM IS MADE 3.EVIDENCE IS PROVIDED 4.TEACHER CAN PROVIDE SUPPORT/ PROBE5.OTHERS MAY CHALLENGE THE CLAIM BEING MADE

CONSTRUCTING ARGUMENTS IN WRITING: POSSIBLE STUDENTS WRITTEN RESPONSE QUESTION: BASED ON THE BALLOON EXPERIMENT PERFORMED, IDENTIFY IF GAS IS MATTER. PROVIDE TWO PIECES OF EVIDENCE THAT SUPPORTS YOUR FINDINGS. EXPLAIN.

Gases are matter because they have mass and take up space (occupy volume). (Claim)

Our evidence for this claim is that when we blew up the balloon and then weighed it, it weighed more than the empty balloon. So it has mass. We also found that we could not add more air. (Evidence)

This showed it takes up space. Matter is anything that has mass and occupies volume. Therefore, gases are matter as they have mass and occupy volume.(Reasoning)

Gases are matter because they have mass and take up space (occupy volume). Our evidence for this claim is that when we blew up the balloon and then weighed it, it weighed more than the empty balloon. So it has mass. We also found that we could not add more air. This showed it takes up space. Matter is anything that has mass and occupies volume. Therefore, gases are matter as they have mass and occupy volume.

SAMPLE CLAIM/EVIDENCE/REASONING RUBRIC

TEACHER/PEER COMMENTS:

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE STUDENTS ENGAGE IN ARGUMENTS? (POLL)

POSSIBLE ANSWERSStudents are able to share their thoughts

and present evidence.Allows the teacher to analyze students

thinking of instruction.Supports students’ understanding of

disciplinary core ideas of science.Using evidence to construct and critique

arguments can be used across disciplines and outside of the school setting.

Promotes literacy development.

PROGRESSION OF ARGUMENTGrades K ‐2 Grades 3 ‐ 5 Middle School High School

Make a claim and use evidence

Construct and support scientificarguments drawing on evidence, data, or a model. Considerother ideas.

Construct andpresent oral andwritten argumentssupported byempirical evidenceand reasoning tosupport or refutean explanation fora occurrence.

Construct acounterargumentthat isbased in dataand evidencethat challengesanotherproposedargument.

LEARNING….Learning difficult ideas takes time and often comes together as students work on a task that forces them to produce ideas. Learning is facilitated when new and existing knowledge is structured around the core ideas.

HOW CAN I SUPPORT STUDENTS IN ARGUMENTATION?

1. Give Norms

2. Provide a framework(Claim Evidence Reasoning)

3. Model and describe the framework

4. Provide them with examples

5. Teach them how to find evidence from text, charts, graphs.

6. Let them know why it’s important

7. Have them critique each other’s written arguments

8. Allow them to debate ideas

9. Provide them with various platforms

THE C-E-R FRAMEWORK CLAIM-(HOW DO I WANT TO ANSWER THE KEY QUESTION?) IT TELLS WHAT WE LEARNED FROM THE LESSON/TEXT/GRAPH/CHART (I BELIEVE)EVIDENCE- BACKS UP THE CLAIM. TELLS HOW WE GOT THE CLAIM: USE DATA WE OBSERVED..(I BELIEVE THIS BECAUSE/BASED ON)SCIENTIFIC REASONING- USE SCIENTIFIC TERMS AND/OR PRINCIPLES TO EXPLAIN THE EVIDENCE.

IN CONCLUSION PARTS OF AN ARGUMENT STARTS WITH A POSED QUESTION,

FOLLOWED BY ONE’S CLAIM SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE AND REASONING.

IT’S IMPORTANT TO BUILD STUDENTS UNDERSTANDING OF ARGUMENTATION OVER A PERIOD OF TIME.

STUDENTS MUST HAVE PRACTICE IN CITING EVIDENCE IN PASSAGES, READING GRAPHS AND CHARTS, AND EXPERIENCES THAT STIMULATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE.

WAYS TO SUPPORT STUDENTS (START SMALL-WITH A FAMILIAR TOPIC, MODEL, SET NORMS, CRITIQUING, AND PROVIDE STRUCTURE).

ALL LEARNERS SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS.

ONCE STUDENTS HAVE LEARNED TO VERBALLY MAKE CLAIMS AND SUPPORT WITH EVIDENCE AND REASONING, HAVE THEM MOVE INTO WRITING THEIR IDEAS.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. HOW DO I PLAN TO IMPLEMENT THE C.E.R FRAMEWORK IN MY CLASS? HOW CAN I SUPPORT MY POPULATION OF STUDENTS ?

2. WHAT CHALLENGES MIGHT I HAVE IN HAVING STUDENTS TO ENGAGE IN EVIDENCE BASED ARGUMENTS(RESPONSES) AND WRITINGS? HOW CAN I ADDRESS THOSE CHALLENGES?

HELPFUL WEBSITES Supporting Students in Science Thinking and Writing: Justifying Claims with Evidence and Reasoning http://bpssciencecer.weebly.com/examples-from-workshop.html

Science for All http://teachscience4all.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/claim-evidence-reasoning-tools-to-

introduce-cer-in-pd-and-instruction/

Read Works (Free-Science Passages/MC/CR/Writing) http://www.readworks.org/science-passages-reading-comprehension http://www.readworks.org/brand-new-science-passages

Problem-Attic (Free/Fee for additional services – Science Passages / MC / CR) http://www.problem-attic.com/

 Science and Literacy (Free- Science Passages/CR) http://bpsscience.weebly.com/science-and-literacy-close-reading-cwa--more.html

Edhelper (Fee- Content Passages/MC/CR/Writing) EDhelper.com

Triand (Free Trial/Cost-MC/CR) http://my.triand.com/

School Improvement in Maryland –Science (Free-CR) http://mdk12.org/assessments/k_8/index_d.html

LDOE (Free-Test Structure/Sample Items with Task) http://www.louisianabelieves.com/resources/library/assessment-guidance-2014-2015

WATCH SAMPLE INTRODUCTORY LESSON: SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN ENGAGING IN ARGUMENTS WITH THE CLAIM, EVIDENCE, AND REASONING FRAMEWORK

Sample Lesson Video