Name: _______________________________________
Date: ______________ Per: ________
CER Assessment
Prompt: You work at a local restaurant, cleaning and waiting on tables. It’s hard work, especially when
you get a tough costumer like today. He calls you over and asks for a glass of water, and he wants very
fresh water. You go into the kitchen and fill a glass with water right from the tap. When you hand the
glass of water to the costumer he looks it over carefully. He says, “I don’t think this is very new. In fact, I
think it is millions and millions of years old.” You tell him that you just filled the glass from the tap. He
says it’s old. He wants to know if you have any newer water. What do you tell him? Can the world create
brand new water that has never been on the Earth before?
You are the waiter at the restaurant. Write a constructed response explaining to the costumer whether or
not he in fact can get newer water. Your explanation needs to keep in mind how and why the water cycle
works.
Task
CLAIM: A statement or
conclusion that answers
the original
question/problem and
provides a counterclaim..
EVIDENCE: Scientific
data that supports the
claim and counterclaim.
REASONING: A
justification that connects
the evidence to the claim
and counterclaim.
Planning / Pre-write
Context
Distinguished Command
 A statement or conclusion that answers the original question/problem
 Uses scientific concepts (Scientific vocabulary)/principles (Laws and/or
theories).
 Develops an alternate or opposing claim.
 Uses multiple sources of scientific data (quantitative (numbers) and
qualitative (the five senses)) and principles that support the claim.
 Uses evidence-based phrases – the source of the data is specific and clear.
 Reasoning provides justification that connects the evidence to the claim and
counterclaim.
 Explains how the data counts as evidence by using scientific principles that
support the claim and counterclaim.
Source 1:
Source 2:
Source 3:
Law of Conservation of Mass: The Law of Conservation of Mass states that matter can be
changed from one form into another, mixtures can be separated or made, and pure substances can
be decomposed, but the total amount of mass remains constant. We can state this important law in
another way. The total mass of the universe is constant within measurable limits; whenever matter
undergoes a change, the total mass of the products of the change is, within measurable limits, the
same as the total mass of the reactants.
Claim
A statement or conclusion that
answers the original
question/problem.
Evidence
Scientific data that supports
the claim.
Reasoning
A justification that connects the
evidence to the claim.
It shows why the data counts as
evidence by explaining the
scientific principles.
Evidence
Scientific data that supports
the claim.
Reasoning
A justification that connects the
evidence to the claim.
It shows why the data counts as
evidence by explaining the
scientific principles.
Concluding Statement
Remind the reader what
your claim was and wrap
up your thinking.
Claim and Counter Claim