Critical Thinking:
The Massachusets Frameworks ask the student to be able to apply critical thinking to apply knowledge and evidence, such as:
3-ESS2-1. Use graphs and tables of local weather data to describe and predict typical weather during a particular season in an area.
3-ESS2-2. Obtain and summarize information about the climate of different regions of the world to illustrate that typical weather conditions over a year vary by region.
3-LS3-1. Provide evidence, including through the analysis of data, that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exist in a group of similar organisms.
3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals within the same species may provide advantages to these individuals in their survival and reproduction.
Generative AI can do this sort of reasoning very well.
Example:
Writing in the role of an eighth-grade students, construct an argument based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence organism growth; respectfully provide and receive critiques about one’s arguments, procedures, and models by citing relevant evidence with pertinent detail.
ChatGPT
Thought about environmental and genetic influences on growth for 9 seconds
Argument (in the voice of an 8th-grade student)
In science class, we learned that both environmental and genetic factors can influence how an organism grows. My claim is that an organism’s growth depends on the conditions of its environment, like how much sunlight or water it gets, as well as the genes it inherits from its parents.
Evidence from Our Class Experiment
Experiment with Pea Plants
Setup: We planted two types of pea plants—Type A and Type B. We kept them in different conditions to see how they would grow.
Environmental Variation: We gave half of the plants extra sunlight (on a windowsill) and half less sunlight (farther from the window). We also carefully measured water for each plant.
Results: After three weeks, the plants with more sunlight were taller on average (about 15 cm) than the ones with less sunlight (about 10 cm). However, even within the same sunlight groups, Type A plants grew taller overall than Type B plants.
Genetic Differences
Observation: Despite receiving the same amount of sunlight and water, Type A grew faster and produced more leaves than Type B. We think this might be because Type A has genes that make it naturally grow faster or taller.
Conclusion: The differences in growth between Type A and Type B, even when given similar environmental conditions, show that genetics also play a major role.
Analysis
From these results, I can argue that environment (like sunlight) and genetic factors (like plant type) both influence growth. If only environment mattered, then Type A and Type B plants in the same conditions should have grown the same. But they didn’t. Also, if only genetics mattered, then changing the amount of sunlight would not have made a big difference in how tall the plants got. But it did. Therefore, I think both environment and genes contribute to an organism’s growth.
Respectful Critiques and Feedback
Receiving Critique:
One of my classmates pointed out that my watering schedule might not have been perfectly consistent. They said sometimes I might have given the plants slightly different amounts of water even though I tried to measure carefully.
My Response: I agree that this could have affected the results. Next time, I will use a more precise measuring tool, like a graduated cylinder, to make sure each plant gets the exact same amount of water.
Giving Critique:
Another classmate did a similar experiment but did not track the temperature in the classroom. I suggested they record temperature each day because extreme changes might affect plant growth.
Respectful Tone: I told them I noticed our classroom can get warmer when the sun is out and that might impact growth. This was a friendly suggestion to improve their experiment in the future.
Conclusion
Putting it all together, my argument is that both the conditions in an organism’s environment and the genes it inherits greatly influence how it grows. By gathering data carefully, sharing feedback with classmates, and improving our methods, we can become more confident in our conclusions.