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?

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

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

   • A question
   • Evidence
   • Reasoning
   • Claim

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

   Seeds	Sprouted
   soaked overnight	18
   not soaked	11

7. 4.

   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
   • Soaked seeds need no light to sprout
   • Soaking makes any kind of seed sprout faster
8. 5.

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

   • The compost is amazing, says the bag
   • 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
9. 6.

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

   • Five stars from a happy customer
   • The label on the bottle calls it a miracle for thirsty, droopy garden plants
   • My neighbor loves this spray
   • In a test of 40 plants, sprayed and unsprayed plants grew the same
10. 7.

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

    • It is too long for most people to read
    • Testimonials are measured data, so it is strong
    • It is one person's report that usually cannot be checked
    • It is a careful report written by a trained scientist in a lab
11. 8.

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

    • A friend's guess in a group chat
    • An unsigned post with no date
    • A university biology textbook with references
    • A shop page selling grow lamps
12. 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
    • Whether the title is in capital letters
    • How many pictures the page has
13. 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
    • Dates do not matter on science pages
    • Older pages are more correct, since they came first