Name:_____________________________________
Date:________________
CER Notes
C: ____________________________________________
E: ____________________________________________
R:____________________________________________
What is a Claim? A claim is at least one of the following things…

A claim is a __________________________________ about the _______________________________
between ____________________________________________, the ____________________________.

A claim ________________________________________________________________.

A claim is a ________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________.
What is Evidence in science?

Evidence comes from _______________________________________________ and includes
__________________________________________.

Evidence can also come from ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________.
What is Reasoning in Science?

Reasoning is you _____________________________________________________________________ the
evidence.

Reasoning includes ________________________________________________________________.

For reasoning, think: __________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________?
All together, these three things make CER Responses.
Name:_____________________________________

Date:________________
If you are stuck on how to begin a CER response, CER responses can (but does not have to) include the
sentence stems:
__________________________________________________________________________________________ OR
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Guided Practice: Part 1
Mara wanted to figure out if the amount of time students spend studying for a test affects their test scores. She
collected data and put it into the data table below.
Time spent studying (minutes)
Score on test (percent)
20 minutes
45 minutes
70 minutes
90 minutes
120 minutes
52
61
75
86
91
What conclusion can you draw from Mara’s data? Use CER to answer.
Claim- I think…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________.
Evidence- I see…
_________________________________________________________________________________
_______
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________.
Reasoning- I know…
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_
______________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________.
Name:_____________________________________
Date:________________
Guided Practice: Part 2
Use the table below for questions 1-2.
Planet Name
Distance from the sun
in AU
Mercury
0.39 AU
Venus
0.72 AU
Earth
1.00 AU
Mars
1.52 AU
Jupiter
5.20 AU
Saturn
9.54 AU
Uranus
19.18 AU
Neptune
30.06 AU
1. Which planet is the coldest planet? Use CER to respond.
Claim- I think…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Evidence- I see…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Reasoning- I know…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Name:_____________________________________
Date:________________
2. Which planet feels the strongest amount of the sun’s gravity? Use CER to respond.
Claim- I think…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Evidence- I see…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Reasoning- I know…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Name:_____________________________________
Date:________________
Independent Practice
3. Alvin wants to know which dish soap works better, Brand 1 or Brand 2. He makes two white plates equally
messy with spaghetti sauce, and washes in a dishwasher with Brand 1, and the other with Brand 2. After the
dishwasher runs, he removes each plate and takes a picture:
Brand 1 Soap (after washing)
Brand 2 Soap (after washing)
What can conclusion can you draw about Alvin’s experiment? Use CER in your response.
Claim- I think…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Evidence- I see…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Reasoning- I know…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Name:_____________________________________
A
B
C
Date:________________
D
4. The points above represent 4 different astronauts in outer space. Which astronaut would feel the strongest
force of earth’s gravity? Use CER in your response.
Claim- I think…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Evidence- I see…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Reasoning- I know…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Name:_____________________________________
Date:________________
5. Use the table above. Which planet has the strongest amount of its own gravity? Use CER to answer.
Claim- I think…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Evidence- I see…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Reasoning- I know…
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Name:_____________________________________
Date:________________
CER Modeling: Exemplars to annotate
Example 1;Question:
How does the average distance that a planet is from the sun affect the length of its
orbital period (year)? OR… Which planet has the shortest year and why?
C: My claim is that Mercury the shortest planetary year in our solar system.
E: In the photo, Mercury is closest planet to the sun, and has an orbital path that is
smaller than that of all the other planets. Neptune has the largest orbital path, because it
is the farthest away.
R: Mercury has the shortest year because it has the shortest distance to travel around the
sun. Additionally, because Mercury is the closest, the sun’s gravity pulls on it the most
out of all of our solar system’s planets. This increase in gravity compared to other
planets causes Mercury’s orbital speed to be the fastest because gravity increases orbital
speed (Kepler effect).
End note: What are 2 things that make this CER response effective
and thorough?

___________________________________________________

Example 2; Question:
___________________________________________________
Name:_____________________________________
Date:________________
What is the relationship between the temperature of tank water and the average speed a
dolphin swims?
IV: Temperature of water
DV: Speed that a dolphin swims
(Degrees C)
(m/s)
48 C
1 m/s
38 C
2 m/s
28 C
3 m/s
18 C
5 m/s
C: My claim is that the colder the water gets, the faster the dolphin swims.
E: Based on the data, when the water is at its coldest at 18 degrees Celsius, the dolphin
swims the fastest at 5 m/s. When the water is warmest, at 48 degrees Celsius, the
dolphin swims the slowest, at 1 m/s.
R: This trend could be explained if dolphins swim faster in cold water to increase their
body temperatures. Dolphins are warm-blooded mammals that use their metabolism to
maintain high body temperatures.
End note: What are 2 things that make this CER response effective
and thorough?

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________
Name:_____________________________________
Date:________________
CER Response Cheat Sheet
Checklist:
Question to check for:
Claim: Does your claim answer a question?
Ex#1 Ex#2 IP#3
IP#4
Claim: Is your claim 1 complete sentence?
Evidence: Does your evidence include specific visual observations or
numbers from the data?
Evidence: Do you have at least 2 pieces of evidence (2 numbers or 2
observations)?
Evidence: Does your evidence support your claim? Is it relevant?
Reasoning: Does your relevant tie in relevant scientific background
knowledge that is NOT given in the problem that helps explain more?
Reasoning: Does your reasoning explain why you picked the evidence
you chose and how it backs up your claim?
Reasoning: Is your reasoning the longest portion of your response?
Trouble getting started? Use these sentence starters!
For claim…
For evidence…
For reasoning…








I think that …
My claim is that…
I see that…
One piece of evidence is that…An additional piece of
evidence is…
My evidence is that…
I know that…
My evidence backs up my claim because I know that…
My evidence supports my claim because…
Writing Tip:
 Pretend your audience for your CER response is your 5-year-old sibling, and that they know
nothing about the topic that you are explaining. That way, you can be very thorough and not
assume that your reader knows the same background info as you.
IP#5