WSST Conference 2019

Teaching students to make sense of data they have collected and to describe the phenomenon they observe is crucial to them becoming critical thinkers and not merely memorizing vast amounts of information. Using Claims, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) is an excellent way to help students to learn and to meet the NGSS. CER is more than just coming to a conclusion. Students, when asked to make a conclusion after the completion of a lab often will say something like, “The heavier ball made a bigger impact”. They are often quite good at stating what happened (the claim) but fall short of giving proof (evidence) or demonstrating that they understand the why (reasoning). These are not intuitive and students must be given explicit instruction and multiple opportunities to practice these skills. This session will share examples that have been used in our middle and high school classrooms and rubrics for assessment of these skills.