Providing evidence is a common skill throughout the Next Generation Science Standards but along with creating a claim and explaining their reasoning, it can be a challenging set of standards for some of our students to meet. Her suggestion was to create a basic CER graphic organizer to which we can start by adding claims, pieces of evidence and explanations of reasoning for the students where they just have to drag and drop the information into the correct category. In the blank space on both sides of the drawing, we will be able to add shapes that automatically turn into text boxes when you click on them twice to add examples of claims, evidence, and reasoning. The goal is to start the year providing the options for students so they can see what quality responses look like and then slowly scale back the amount of teacher provided information so students can practice creating all three aspects on their own.
I was excited to have the opportunity to make a basic CER graphic organizer that I can share with my Science teachers and then edit as they see fit to align with the description and vocabulary they use when describing the CER process in their classroom. The more uniform the information can be, the more reinforcement our students will receive, the better our students will grasp the concepts and be able to provide their own quality claims, evidence, and responses throughout their middle school experience.
This module taught me the importance of colors, spacing, and fonts in all types of graphic design. I have been much more aware of these factors as I have started this blog and been redesigning my website to provide resources for the teachers in my district. This awareness will continue to impact me as I help more teachers and students create graphics using Google Drawings in the upcoming year.
References
Read the Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nextgenscience.org/search-standards