Formative Assessments for STEM: Claim Evidence Reasoning

Claim Evidence Reasoning is a formative assessment that ensures that students are thinking purposefully about the conclusions they are drawing.

CER is a tough concept for kids because it requires that they follow a specific “formula” to explain their thinking.  Using this structure, students must take a stance and back it up with their findings.

Claim- A claim is usually one sentence that you believe answers the question or solves the problem.  It clearly announces your stance on the issue and is based on evidence, data and observations that you have gathered throughout an investigation

Evidence- The evidence is the specific observations, data and other proof that you have collected during the course of your investigation.  This part of your response should detail the most compelling data or artifacts that prove your claim statement.

Reasoning- This is the toughest one for kids.  The reasoning tells why (scientifically) the evidence makes sense.  This should be the longest part of the response as it is supporting and backing up the evidence that they write about in the prior section.

By requiring that students progress through these steps, they learn how to better develop their critical thinking skills.

Get the Formative Assessment Bundle Pack including Claim, Evidence, Reasoning!