Hey, Reader,

CER has always been one of those things that sounds easy enough to teach…until you actually watch your students try to write one. 😂

I don't know about your students, but mine have usually been pretty good at the claim. It's the evidence and reasoning that throw them for a loop. (BIG problem considering that’s ⅔ of the format!)

Which evidence should they use?
Does this fact actually support their claim?
And what exactly are they supposed to write for the reasoning?

I’d get statements like: "Therefore, a hot dog is a sandwich."

Sound familiar?

In the past, I used fun, low-stakes debates like “Is a hot dog a sandwich?” or “My dad is an alien.” to introduce CER. And honestly, I still love those activities! They're fun, students get into them, and they make the basic idea of CER click.

But something was still missing, and so many of my students were still struggling to write a good CER.

My students could tell me what Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning stood for, but that didn't necessarily mean they knew how to use CER with actual science and data.

And the reasoning was especially tricky.

With the silly CER activities, there wasn't really a scientific principle for students to connect their evidence to. They were supposed to explain why their evidence supported their claim, but they didn't always have a science idea to help them do it.

So I made something to help with that!

CER Data Analysis Practice

Okay, I'll warn you: this resource is kind of a beast. 😂

There are 15 different data scenarios for students to work through, so I definitely don't recommend trying to get through the whole thing in one class!

Instead, I designed it so you can use it however you need. Pull one out for bell work, use a new one every week, start with Tier 1 and work your way up to Tier 2 and 3, use them in small groups, or mix and match them to create stations.

Basically, there's no wrong way to use them.

And the bonus? They're getting lots of practice analyzing data and writing about science along the way. Those are skills we can always use more practice with!

The 15 investigations cover all three core middle school science disciplines: Life Science, Physical Science, and Earth & Space Science.

And don't worry if you don't teach all three, or if you don't teach the specific topics included. I intentionally included everything students need to complete each investigation, so they can work through every task without having prior knowledge of the topic.

👉 CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT CER DATA ANALYSIS PRACTICE 👈

💡 One little thing that helps

When a student basically rewrites their claim for their reasoning, I ask:

"Okay, but WHY does that evidence support your claim?"

That's usually the question that gets them unstuck.

Evidence = what happened.
Reasoning = why it matters.

Have a great week in the lab,

Brittany

The Science Bee