Judge a biology claim: evidence, reasoning and reliable sources

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Claim-evidence-reasoning strip about bean seedlings under a bright lamp and a dim lamp. Sentence to label: "The seedlings under the bright lamp averaged 18 cm; those under the dim lamp averaged 10 cm."

2. 1.

   Ari labels one sentence on a claim-evidence-reasoning strip. Which label fits it?

   • Reasoning
   • A question
   • Evidence
   • Claim
3. 2.

   Bright light helps these bean seedlings grow taller. Bo labels another sentence on the strip. Which label fits it?

   • Evidence
   • Claim
   • Reasoning
   • A question
4. 3.

   Esme labels the last sentence on the strip. Which label fits it?

   • Evidence
   • Reasoning
   • A question
   • Claim

5. Days until mold was first seen, 5 slices each (example data)

   Where kept	Temperature	Mean days
   fridge	4 °C	12
   counter	22 °C	5

6. 4.

   Jun kept bread slices in two places and checked for mold each day. Which claim do the data support?

   • Mold showed up sooner on the bread kept on the counter
   • The fridge's darkness is what slowed the mold
   • Cold stops mold from growing on bread
   • Mold showed up sooner on the bread in the fridge

7. Bean seeds sprouted by day 5, 20 seeds each (example data)

   Seeds	Sprouted
   soaked overnight	18
   not soaked	11

8. 5.

   Luz soaked some bean seeds overnight and planted them beside unsoaked ones. Which claim do the data support?

   • More unsoaked seeds had sprouted by day 5
   • Soaked seeds need no light to sprout
   • Soaking makes any kind of seed sprout faster
   • More soaked seeds than unsoaked seeds had sprouted by day 5
9. 6.

   Milo reads four comments about a bag of compost. Which one is evidence?

   • It smells earthy, so it must work
   • Twelve of 15 plants given compost grew new leaves within a week
   • A gardener down the street says the compost works wonders on roses
   • The compost is amazing, says the bag
10. 7.

    Noah reads four comments about a plant spray. Which one is evidence?

    • Five stars from a happy customer
    • In a test of 40 plants, sprayed and unsprayed plants grew the same
    • My neighbor loves this spray
    • The label on the bottle calls it a miracle for thirsty, droopy garden plants
11. 8.

    Pia sees a testimonial: "This plant spray saved my garden!" Why is a testimonial weak evidence?

    • It is a careful report written by a trained scientist in a lab
    • Testimonials are measured data, so it is strong
    • It is too long for most people to read
    • It is one person's report that usually cannot be checked
12. 9.

    Ren wants to learn how plants use light. Which source is most reliable?

    • A friend's guess in a group chat
    • A shop page selling grow lamps
    • A university biology textbook with references
    • An unsigned post with no date
13. 10.

    A science page ends with "Last reviewed: 2009." Why does that date matter, Zee asks?

    • Older pages are more correct, since they came first
    • Science changes, so an old page may be out of date
    • Dates do not matter on science pages
    • The date shows who paid for the page