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.

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

   • Claim
   • Evidence
   • A question
   • Reasoning

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

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

5. 3.

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

   • 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
   • Mold showed up sooner on the bread kept on the counter

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

   Patch	Visits
   purple	24
   yellow	15
   white	6

7. 4.

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

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

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

   Seeds	Sprouted
   soaked overnight	18
   not soaked	11

9. 5.

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

   • Soaked seeds need no light to sprout
   • More unsoaked seeds had sprouted by day 5
   • Soaking makes any kind of seed sprout faster
   • More soaked seeds than unsoaked seeds had sprouted by day 5
10. 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
    • The compost is amazing, says the bag
    • A gardener down the street says the compost works wonders on roses
11. 7.

    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
    • It is too long for most people to read
    • It is one person's report that usually cannot be checked
    • Testimonials are measured data, so it is strong
12. 8.

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

    • An unsigned post with no date
    • A shop page selling grow lamps
    • A university biology textbook with references
    • A friend's guess in a group chat
13. 9.

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

    • How bright the colors on the page are
    • Who runs the site and who pays for it
    • How many pictures the page has
    • Whether the title is in capital letters
14. 10.

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

    • Science changes, so an old page may be out of date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