Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning

I’ve been planning a blog post on Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning for the last few months but I keep putting it off. The other day I stumbled on Jason Buell’s post titled Claim Evidence Reasoning on his blog Always Formative (you should check it out by the way- really good stuff) and now I feel relieved that I can cross this off my list 🙂

Jason’s post describes multiple resources for scaffolding and supporting students in developing their scientific thinking and explanations using the frame of:

• Claim
• Evidence
• Reasoning

In Washington state (where I live and work) we have become hyper focused on writing conclusions using the frame of Conclusive Statement, Supporting Data (high/low data points), and Explanatory Language. This frame comes from the rubric used for our high stakes science assessment at grades 5, 8, & 10. While it is a useful way for a scorer to assign points to a large scale assessment it is perhaps not the most flexible and helpful way for supporting students in writing conclusions and explanations for a variety of science (and non-science) contexts. As we engage with the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts, I thinking a framework like this will support student use of evidence and reasoning across content areas.

I recommend reading Jason’s post and trying out some of the writing frames he suggests with your students.