Judge a biology claim: evidence, reasoning and reliable sources
Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Bright light helps these bean seedlings grow taller. Bo labels another sentence on the strip. Which label fits it?
- Claim
- Reasoning
- Evidence
- A question
Esme labels the last sentence on the strip. Which label fits it?
- A question
- Reasoning
- Evidence
- Claim
Read this first
Days until mold was first seen, 5 slices each (example data)
Where kept Temperature Mean days fridge 4 °C 12 counter 22 °C 5 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
- Cold stops mold from growing on bread
- The fridge's darkness is what slowed the mold
Bee visits to three flower patches, 30-minute count (example data)
Patch Visits purple 24 yellow 15 white 6 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
- Purple flowers get more visits because they make more nectar
- In this count, bees visited the purple patch most
Bean seeds sprouted by day 5, 20 seeds each (example data)
Seeds Sprouted soaked overnight 18 not soaked 11 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
Milo reads four comments about a bag of compost. Which one is evidence?
- 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
- It smells earthy, so it must work
Noah reads four comments about a plant spray. Which one is evidence?
- My neighbor loves this spray
- The label on the bottle calls it a miracle for thirsty, droopy garden plants
- In a test of 40 plants, sprayed and unsprayed plants grew the same
- Five stars from a happy customer
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
- It is a careful report written by a trained scientist in a lab
- Testimonials are measured data, so it is strong
- It is one person's report that usually cannot be checked
Ren wants to learn how plants use light. Which source is most reliable?
- A friend's guess in a group chat
- A university biology textbook with references
- A shop page selling grow lamps
- An unsigned post with no date
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