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?

   • Evidence
   • Claim
   • Reasoning
   • A question
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
   • A question
   • Reasoning
   • 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
   • Mold showed up sooner on the bread in the fridge
   • The fridge's darkness is what slowed the mold
   • Cold stops mold from growing on bread

7. Bee visits to three flower patches, 30-minute count (example data)

   Patch	Visits
   purple	24
   yellow	15
   white	6

8. 5.

   Kira counted bee visits to three flower patches for 30 minutes. Which claim do the data support?

   • Bees can see purple and no other color
   • Bees visited the white patch most
   • In this count, bees visited the purple patch most
   • Purple flowers get more visits because they make more nectar

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

   Seeds	Sprouted
   soaked overnight	18
   not soaked	11

10. 6.

    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
    • More soaked seeds than unsoaked seeds had sprouted by day 5
    • Soaking makes any kind of seed sprout faster
    • Soaked seeds need no light to sprout
11. 7.

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

    • The compost is amazing, says the bag
    • A gardener down the street says the compost works wonders on roses
    • Twelve of 15 plants given compost grew new leaves within a week
    • It smells earthy, so it must work
12. 8.

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

    • The label on the bottle calls it a miracle for thirsty, droopy garden plants
    • My neighbor loves this spray
    • Five stars from a happy customer
    • In a test of 40 plants, sprayed and unsprayed plants grew the same
13. 9.

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

    • A shop page selling grow lamps
    • A university biology textbook with references
    • A friend's guess in a group chat
    • An unsigned post with no date
14. 10.

    Tala finds a website about bean seeds. Which clue should Tala check first?

    • How many pictures the page has
    • How bright the colors on the page are
    • Whether the title is in capital letters
    • Who runs the site and who pays for it