Writing in Science

Claim-Evidence-Reasoning

In the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) model, students do the following:

Claim: State an opinion or position in response to a question or prompt.

Evidence: Provide data or facts from research or investigations to support their claims.

Reasoning: Justify why the evidence actually supports their claims.

This is not always done in the same order; sometimes evidence gives way to claims, and other times reasoning comes before evidence. As long as students can express themselves using all three methods, then they are using the CER process.

Student examples of writing with CER:

Best time to use CER:

CER can be used at any time. However, you could start any lab lesson with the CER, then after the lab lesson and during the reflection time, have students go back to their CERs and see if they need to revise their understanding now that they have new evidence from their lab.

Reflections

The leveled question chart (pictured right) is a great resource to have students write about whatever topic is being covered during your lessons.

Level 1: Recalling basic facts and information.

Level 2: Finding reasons for the way things work.

Level 3: Making predictions about content.

Level 4: Evaluating science ideas.

You could generate the topic yourself, or have student volunteers generate the questions.

Best time to use the chart:

This chart can be used at any time. If you want students to reflect on the lesson they have learned, then they can use the dedicated 10 minute reflection time at the end of the science block to work on their writing. If you would like students to do this before they learn the content as a way for them to express their ideas ahead of time, you could do it at the start of your block after your vocabulary review.

Quick Writes

Quick Writes are a great way to introduce a new unit and activate prior knowledge. You can show the students a series of pictures that have a common theme (such as all objects have sound energy), and give students about five minutes to write out what they all have in common and why they think that.

Best time to use Quick Writes:

You can use Quick Writes to sum up a unit, but using it at the start of a unit is a great way to introduce units, check students' vocabulary, and generating prior knowledge of the topic.

*shared by Mr. Intermill

S.P.I. Statements

A SPI Statement is a statement that students write to sum up a topic or idea. After being shown an exemplar (comic, signs, pamphlets, videos, books, etc), students record:

Source: the exemplar given

Purpose: shows, tells, or explains

Information: a brief statement describing the meaning of the topic

When all 3 parts are put together, the student has a SPI, or summary, statement.

Best time to use SPI Statements:

You can use SPI Statements to either generate prior knowledge and assess where students are at the start of the unit, or you can use it to sum up new ideas at the end of different lessons.

8-Minute Writing

This strategy is a quick way for students to get their ideas down on paper; by chunking the 8 minutes into different sections with breaks in between, a daunting writing task will become a quick challenge against the clock.

Students need to fold a half sheet of paper in half. On the inside, give students a topic sentence to write on the left side, and a related topic sentence to write on the right side. Then have them close their sheets.

On the clock, give the students:

1 minute: write an introduction on the front of the booklet about the topic

3 minutes: write about the topic sentence on the inside left of the booklet

3 minutes: write about the topic sentence on the inside right of the booklet

1 minute: write a conclusion on the back of the booklet about the topic

Between each block of time, give students 'secrets of good writers' tips, such as using capitals at the start of sentences, periods at the end of sentences, checking for spelling, rereading what is written to help get over writer's block, and so on.

Best time to use 8-Minute Writing:

This activity can be done at the start of the unit to generate background knowledge on a topic. It can also be used at the end of a lesson or unit to sum up what they have learned about the topic.

Because-But-So

This activity is a great way to turn a single sentence stem into a deeper look at student understanding of a concept.

To use, simply come up with a sentence stem to start out with, such as 'Lemon juice dissolved in water' and write it 3 times.

Tack 'because' after the first stem.
Add 'but' to the second.
Then place 'so' after the third copy.

Students will complete the sentence with information they learned that makes their sentence true.

Best time to use Because-But-So:

This activity is best used as a conclusion or reflection to your lesson. Students will need to draw upon the information that they learned in your lesson in order to finish each of the three sentences.

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