Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

How can we teach CER in a more organic way? When we teach CER, I used to go over what a claim is, what evidence is, and what reasoning is and how that differs from evidence. Then, we’d work through some examples. This works, but I think it can be done better – in a way that is less prescribed and more organic – because if it’s more organic, it comes from them – the students – and if it comes from them, then they’ll remember it more. So, I did this – when I introduced CER this year – and I think it went quite well – especially since students got to do science.

Episode Notes

Here are a couple of big ideas from the video:

1. When getting students to practice using our triple beam balances, I gave them an initial research question to answer: for example, is a flask that is 2X bigger by volume also 2X bigger by mass? Students use the balances to find the mass of the two Erlenmeyer flasks, and then,I tell them to write a conclusion for the research question. The next day, I go around and checked their responses.
2. I show them how I would write a strong conclusion using some sample data. I tell students that all strong conclusions or claims have 3 things: (1) the answer to the question directly (2) a summary of the measurements and data that support my answer, and (3) an explanation.
3. Lastly, I give students another simple question to answer – a question that, again, gets students to practice using our lab equipment. Here’s the question: “is the mass of 100ml of water measured in a small beaker the same as the mass of 100ml of water measured in a large beaker?” And, I get them to write another conclusion and I’ll check it again to see how well they took in the feedback I provided in the first research question.

Resource

Handout(s): Ep103 Handouts – A More Organic Way to Teach CER

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Like food, there’s a lot of variety in music and a lot of different musical tastes too. In this simple, fun CER example, we use boy band music to introduce CER. If you think about it, every generation has their own boy band. In the 1950s and 60s, it was the Beatles and the Monkees. New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, and NSYNC were on the scene in the 1990s and early 2000s. Today (in 2019), the Jonas Brothers are making a come back alongside K-pop boy bands like BTS. There is not one student (or adult) who has not heard (or guiltily sang along to) a boy band song. Hence, it is one fun CER example both science students and teachers can relate (and perhaps sing) to. Free handouts are available to download at the end of this post.

Boy Band songs = One Fun CER Example

In 2018, Rolling Stone Magazine published a list titled “The 100 Greatest Boy Band Songs of all time” – which is the inspiration behind this activity. I go over this list with all my students every year. The list always generates some laughs (and singing too!). But, more importantly, what songs are on and not on the list always leads to some great questions. For example, what criteria was used to rank boy band songs? How can judges objectively choose the “best” boy band song? Who were the judges that were contacted for this list? How old were these judges?

In this CER activity, students will develop their own small list of the best boy band songs of all time. The main goal of this activity is for students to develop their CER skills. In other words, students will get practice in developing a claim and supporting that claim with evidence and reasoning. They’ll need to ask themselves: what do I consider the best boy band songs of all time (ie. make a claim)? And, how can I support my claims objectively (ie. provide evidence)? What measurements can I take to support our claims (ex. Record sales, radio plays, current and past popularity)?

Field Notes

• Introduce the activity by saying that a list of the top 100 boy band songs was created by Billboard. You don’t need to go over the list yet. Instead, ask students which bands or songs they think are on the list. Invariably, this will lead to questions about what makes a good boy band song and who is judging boy band songs.
• I would ask students to put together their own list of top boy band songs of all time before going over the Billboard list. Have students present their list. When presenting, focus on student process. In other words, how did they select their songs? What evidence would they use to support their list?
• When you do go over the Billboard list, take note of the reason why judges felt “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys is considered the top boy band song of all time. Also note the reasons for other top ten songs on this list. Consider that the list is actually a critics choice list. Ask how we can objectively determine this list. How many variables would we measure and would each variable be equally weighted? Which variables would we measure?
• As an aside, which bands are on and not on the list also generates a fair number of questions too. For example, what is the definition of a boy band? If the Beatles are considered a boy band, is Queen or Coldplay considered boy bands too? Perhaps this can be a CER example that can be further discussed. Perhaps, students can develop a small list that answers the question what are the greatest boy bands of all time.

Wrap Up

CER is science skill that is relevant inside and outside the classroom. Unfortunately, many CER examples feature just lab data or information from science textbooks. I understand why teachers tend to use science examples to illustrate CER. However, having a simple CER example that is based on something outside the classroom is much more powerful. For one thing, it’s fun (which will get students to remember it better). Also, it forces students to approach an everyday problem with scientific thinking. And, ultimately, isn’t that the purpose of a science education? Click the link below to download our handouts for this post (the Billboard list of 100 Greatest Boy Band Songs of all time). Enter your email address up above too if you’re interested in receiving our e-newsletter, which regularly features useful science education resources. Lastly, please email a link of this post to your colleagues if you find it useful. Thanks!

Until next time, keep it REAL!

Resources

Handout(s): 54 – Billboard Top Boy Band Songs – Critics Pick

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I recently tested Chain Notes as a strategy for checking student understanding. What I discovered was that it’s not just a great way to review science concepts. Chain Notes is also an excellent way to teach students what strong and weak scientific writing is. This is particularly important when we want students to write good CER statements. What is an example of a weak CER statement or a strong one? Using Chain Notes helps to resolve those questions too. We outline the Chain Notes strategy below. We also offer some tips on how to use it in your classroom. Handouts are available for download at the end of this post.

What are Chain Notes?

In Chain Notes, a large envelope with a question about the class content written on it is passed around. Each student writes a short answer, puts it in the envelope, and passes it on. After, the students and/or the teacher can sort the responses and share them with the class.

Chain Notes is a simple way to gauge student understanding of class content. With just a handful of questions that students answer, teachers can see from student responses the details and gaps in their understanding of course content. Teachers can then address these gaps immediately or in a future lesson.

Chain Notes and Good CER Statements

Besides probing students understanding, Chain Notes is a great way to reinforce good CER statements (ie. scientific writing). Because Chain Notes require students to each write an answer to a question, students get to see what good or poor CER statements look like. When I use Chain Notes in my science class, I have students sort responses from strongest response to weakest. By sorting through responses, students can see what elements typically appear in strong scientific writing (and what elements weak writing usually lacks). Students also get an opportunity to learn from others in their grade level by seeing first hand what other students in the class produce.

Field Notes

• I have 28 students in my class. Students do the activity in groups of 4. Each student in the group gets a different question (there are 4 different questions in total). Each student has 3 minutes to answer their question before passing the envelope along.
• When students finish responding to all the questions, I collect all of the envelopes and group them by question. I give each group 2 or 3 envelopes from the same question set to sort.
• After students sort their responses from strongest to weakest, I have students read out the strongest and the weakest responses. I also ask students to explain their ranking decisions.
• After going through all questions and the strongest/weakest responses, I review with the entire class the elements that make a strong response (or good CER statement).

Wrap Up

Class Notes is a simple, engaging way of having students not only review class material but also to learn about good scientific writing from each other. And, Class Notes can be used to help students write good CER statements too. Lastly, the strategy is flexible. You can vary the number of questions or the group sizes. You can use it as a pre-test review or a pre-unit assessment. And, it takes little time to run too. Click the link below to download a copy of this resource for your own records. Check out our other resources, and share our ideas with your colleagues too.

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): 51 – Chain Notes Activity

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In the spirit of CER, this activity requires students to record evidence (ie. Observations) and come up with claims. If you’re new to CER, it stands for Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning, and it’s a simple template students can use to draw conclusions and connect it to current and previous knowledge. For more information, see post #46 and #12. For this post, handouts are available for download at the end.

A Lab Equipment CER Activity

The premise of this CER activity is for students to record observations about certain pieces of lab equipment that the teacher has set aside. And, from those observations, students make claims about the piece of equipment and connect it to some reasoning as well.

With regards to actually writing CER statements about individual pieces of equipment, students can following the guidelines below.

Claim: The <equipment> is used for…

Evidence: observe the piece of equipment and note down the shape, size, and details that are either present or missing.

Reasoning: provide an explanation as to why the shape, size, and details (missing or present) are important to the equipment’s function.

For example, assume we ask students to write a CER statement about a test tube.

Claim: a test tube is used to hold, mix or heat small amounts of chemical

Evidence: the opening to test tube are narrow; test tube are short; there are no volume markings on test tubes; test tubes are made of Pyrex.

Reasoning: narrow openings and short length means that test tubes can hold very little chemical; lack of volume markings indicates test tubes are not for measuring volumes nor is volume an important measurement in test tubes; pyrex is heat resistant.

Field Notes

I. Make it into a station activity (easy, medium, hard, expert)

I used for stations with different types of equipment in each one. Some stations can have a theme (ex. All flasks or all tongs). My handouts will show what I put in each station.

II. It’s ok if students don’t “get it right”

What makes the activity so engaging is that students are using their observation and analytical skills to figure out a puzzle. It doesn’t matter if they get the right answer or not (at least, not yet). What’s important is the discussion that occurs at each station. What’s important is that students can defend their positions citing the features they see in the equipment.

III. Compare different pieces of equipment to each other

During the activity, students will get stuck. To help them get unstuck, have students compare 2 pieces of equipment to see what both pieces do and don’t do, have or don’t have. For example, an erlenmeyer flask and a beaker are both for mixing and heating chemicals. However, erlenmeyer flasks do a better job at mixing (tapered neck) while a beaker is better for transferring liquids too.

Wrap Up

Learning about lab equipment is no doubt and important skill. We want to make sure students reach for or use the right equipment for the task at hand. But, learning about lab equipment doesn’t need to be boring. It can be part of a discovery process that wraps other skills like CER into the lesson. Click the link below to download the handouts to our lab equipment CER activity, where I provide what equipment I put into each station. I also outline what I have my students document in their notebooks during the activity. As always, please share our resources with your colleagues. And, if you want to receive weekly updates from us, please sign up for our newsletter too.

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): 49 – Lab Equipment CER Activity

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In this post, we give our process of writing CER statements, which actually doesn’t start with the claim. It starts with the evidence. The evidence is the glue that holds everything together. Therefore, analyzing evidence is our focus for this post (although there will be a quick blurb about reasoning at the end too). Handouts are available for download at the end of this post.

Writing CER statements Step-by-Step

To be honest, when writing CER statements, it starts with the question. Evidence (ie experimental data and observations) can provide researchers with a lot. But, only the evidence that gets us an answer to the question at hand is important. Hence, what students focus on must always relate to the question.

Now, with regards to analyzing evidence to come up with a CER statement, students can look for the following:

I. Similarities or Differences in results (between control and trial variables)

Some research questions ask whether a trial variable (ie. Drug, chemical, scientific process) has an effect on an outcome. To answer such a research question, students need to look at similarities (or differences) in the data.

In a nutshell, if results between a trial variable and control are the same, then we claim the trial variable does not have an effect on the outcome. If the results differ, then we claim the trial variable does have an effect (whether positive or negative) on the outcome.

Consider the following example, where researchers tracked the amount of milk that was wasted when chocolate milk was sold in the school cafeteria and when chocolate milk wasn’t sold.

The graph above shows two conditions with different results. When chocolate milk is not available, the amount of milk waste goes up. Thus, researchers can claim that students waste more milk when only white milk is offered.

A similar research question may compare a whole bunch of different trial variables (ex. Different drugs) to see which has a better effect on the experimental outcome.

If the results between trial variables are the same, then we claim the trial variables with similar results have a similar effect on the outcome. If the results differ, then we claim the trial variables differ on their effect on the outcome (and we can explain how they differ too).

II. Trends

Some research questions ask for the effect of increasing or decreasing a single variable has on an experimental outcome. In these cases, we look for trends in the data.

For example, if the dependent variable increases in response to increases to the independent variable, then we claim there is a positive relationship or trend between the independent and dependent variables.

If the dependent variable decreases in response to increases to the independent variable (or vice versa), then we claim there is a negative relationship or trend between independent and dependent variables.

Consider the following example, where researchers tracked how like individuals were to smoke cigarettes f they were exposed to scenes of cigarette smoking in movies.

According to the graph above, as the exposure to smoking scenes increased (ie. MSE Quintile), the likelihood of individuals smoking cigarettes afterwards (ie. smoking prevalence) increased too.

III. Maximums or Minimums

Some research questions ask for the minimum or maximum effect of an independent (ie. trial) variable. Or, alternatively, the question asks for the conditions where the minimum or maximum effect is observed. In these cases, we look for maximums or minimums in the data.

When looking at a graph, finding maximums or minimums is done through interpolation. For a quick guide to interpolation, check out post #23. The claim we write (ie. where the minimum or maximum effect occurs, or what minimum or maximum conditions produce a certain effect) depends on what we interpolate.

What about Reasoning when writing CER statements?

The Reasoning part of a CER statement is meant to explain the evidence and claim. For example, if we claim “Red Jellybeans are the best type of jellybean” – and our evidence shows that red jellybeans are purchased by more people than any other colour – then our reasoning needs to explain why jellybeans are purchased by more people. Some reasons could be scientific (perhaps our eyes are conditioned to see red because it represents danger) or social (red is the colour of love, and of course, there’s Valentine’s Day). However, some reasons may lead to new hypotheses or questions. Thus, a reason may not be a certain thing (although some reasons may already be proven fact). Both are valid.

Wrap Up

When it comes to writing CER statements, there are many ways one can learn. Sure, it helps to look at examples. It helps to practice (if you’re looking for practice, refer to post #24 and #28). But, sometimes students need or prefer a step-by-step solution. And that solution needs to start with looking at evidence (and seeing how it connects to the question). Click the link below to download a summary of this post. Also, please share our resources with your colleagues and sign up for our newsletter if you want to receive weekly factoids and updates.

Until next time, keep it REAL!

Resources

Handout(s): 48 – Writing CER Statements Cheat Sheet

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Back in post #4, I proposed using real science experiments that were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize as a fun way for students to see CER in action. I still stand by that original idea. The Ig Nobel prize celebrates fun (and ridiculous) science. And, it’s a great way to show CER in action in real science. However, I thought it would be good to provide more CER examples from the Ig Nobel Prize list. In this updated post, I provide 3 more CER examples. Infographics are available for download at the end of the post.

What is the Ig Nobel Prize?

The Ig Nobel prize is awarded by Harvard every year for science that makes people laugh. It is the antithesis of the Nobel Prize. I say the experiments are fun and ridiculous. Yet, the scientists who are doing the experiments are not in it to be funny. No, the scientists are genuinely trying to answer a scientific question. These scientists are using the scientific process. Scientists are using some real science skill in these studies.

For example, one of our examples has scientists using chromatography to extract vanilla from cow poop. Another set of set of scientists use mathematical models to determine why body size does not have an effect on duration of urination. Though the scientists’ questions may appear to be silly, the process in solving those questions is serious. And that’s why I like to use the Ig Nobel Prize for CER examples.

Some More CER Examples from the Ig Nobel Prize

2015 Ig Nobel Winner – Physics

Title: Duration of Urination Does Not Change with Body Size

REFERENCE: “Duration of Urination Does Not Change With Body Size,” Patricia J. Yang, Jonathan Pham, Jerome Choo, and David L. Hu, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111 no. 33, August 19, 2014, pp. 11932–11937.

2014 Ig Nobel Winner – Arctic Science

Title: Response Behaviors of Svalbard Reindeer towards Humans and Humans Disguised as Polar Bears on Edgeøya

REFERENCE: “Response Behaviors of Svalbard Reindeer towards Humans and Humans Disguised as Polar Bears on Edgeøya,” Eigil Reimers and Sindre Eftestøl, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, vol. 44, no. 4, 2012, pp. 483-9.

2007 Ig Nobel Winner – Chemistry

Title: Novel Production Method for Plant Polyphenol from Livestock Excrement Using Subcritical Water Reaction

REFERENCE: “Novel Production Method for Plant Polyphenol from Livestock Excrement Using Subcritical Water Reaction,” Mayu Yamamoto, International Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2008.

Wrap Up

The Ig Nobel Prize is a fun and relevant way to show CER in action. What do you use to illustrate CER with your students? Please share. Who knows – I may even publish another set of infographics showing even more CER examples in the future. However, your feedback and ideas are definitely necessary (and appreciated!). Click on the link below to download the infographics for the 3 CER examples above. Please share our resources and web page with your colleagues too. Thanks in advance!

Until next time, keep it (ie. science) REAL!

Resources

Handout(s): 46 – More Ignoble CER examples (infographic)

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One source for fun examples to use for CER is in the advertising world. Specifically, we can use advertising claims with students to practice CER. And, to make things more fun, we can use phony ad claims because it’s a fun challenge for students to provide evidence and reasoning for something that may be too good to be true.

In this post, I present some real, phony advertising claims I like to use for CER practice  For each claim, I ask students to brainstorm scientific evidence and reasoning that may help support those outrageous claims. At the end of this post, I provide a quick handout that provides CER sample responses for our first example, Weekday Eggs.

The Canadian egg farmers & Weekday Eggs

The Canadian Egg Farmers put out an ad promoting a new kind of egg known as the weekend egg. The weekend egg – as opposed to normal eggs – cook quicker and, therefore, eggs no longer need to be a weekend treat. Refer to the following video clip:

This claim is actually purposefully bogus – the ad agency who produced the ad wanted to take a tongue-in-cheek approach to advertising eggs. But, it did make me pause and think if there was such a thing as “weekend eggs”. And although there really isn’t a thing as “weekend eggs”, it would be a fun activity for students to use CER to analyze those claims.

CER Practice with the Weekend Eggs Ad Campaign

1. (optional) Show the weekend eggs video clip

2. Put up the claim on the overhead projector (or infocus projector)

Claim: New “weekday eggs” are easier and quicker to cook.

3. Ask students to provide evidence to support the claim. If they can’t think of any evidence, ask what experiments could be done to support the claim?

Example: Weekday eggs have a unique shape giving them a greater surface area

4. Ask students to provide reasoning to connect the evidence to the claim.

Example: Eggs with greater surface area have more contact with heat sources, thereby allowing more heat to transfer resulting in a quicker cook time.

Other Phony Ad Claims for CER Practice

The following ad campaigns are real campaigns. And, they are all bogus. However, similar to “weekend eggs”, these campaigns make for good CER practice.

1. Nivea (My Silhouette Cream) firming cream

Claim: Cream will slim and reshape the body and reduce specific parts of the body like the thighs, hips, waist, and belly.

2. Reebok toning shoes

Claim: Toning shoes can strengthen muscles in the legs, thighs, and buttocks

3. Nutella

Claim: Nutella is a healthy food

4. Listerine

Claim: Listerine will help prevent colds or sore throats or lessen their severity

5. Cold-FX

Claim: Cold-FX stops colds or flu it its tracks.

6. Yogurt maker Dannon

Claim: Probiotic bacteria in Dannon yogurt can aid regularity and prevent colds or flus.

Implementation Tips

1. Put up a copy of the company’s original ad
2. Put up a headline of the company’s claim
3. Ask students to provide evidence to support the claim.
4. Ask students to provide reasoning that connects the evidence to the claim.

Source: “8 Advertising Claims too good to be true” (cbc.ca)

Wrap Up

CER practice or an introduction to CER doesn’t have to be boring – full of hypothetical or boring science experiments. CER practice can be fun and relevant. In resource #12, students find ways to support the claim that red jellybeans are the best ones (and other interesting claims). In this resource, students have fun doing the same – but by finding ways to support bogus ad campaigns. If you want to download our handouts to this resource, click the link below. And, if you found the resource helpful, share it with others and leave a comment below. Thanks!

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): 33 – Weekend Eggs Discussion Notes

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Recently, the Swiss government passed a law making it illegal to boil live lobsters. The reason: boiling lobsters to death is cruel. Such a claim is sparking a debate over whether lobsters feel pain. And, although it cannot be known for sure if lobsters indeed feel pain, the debate shows how reporters and scientists use CER in a debate. Their statements make for an awesome example for our CER practice worksheet.

CER Recap

CER, which stands for Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, is a structure or template for writing an argument or conclusion. The main idea behind CER is that every strong argument or conclusion has the same parts: a claim (or argument), facts to support the claim, and reasons explaining how to evidence supports the claim. In science, students can use CER to write conclusions for lab reports. But, more importantly, it can be used as a structure for debates or to gauge student thinking when presented with a problem or question. Thus, CER is a tool for students to develop and practice their skills in scientific analysis and critical thinking.

Consider the following two CER statements

Back to the debate at hand: do lobsters feel pain (and, therefore, is it cruel to boil them to death)?

Claim 1: Lobsters feel pain.

Claim Two: Lobsters don’t feel pain.

CER Practice from Open Ended Questions

I like to use open ended questions with no definite answer to get students to practice CER. Sometimes, I give students a claim and ask them to think of evidence and reasoning that might support the claim. Refer to #12 – Red Jellybeans are the best Jellybeans for that practice activity.

However, there are times where I ask students to come up with their own claims to science questions. Questions that may be outside the realm of formal science. Fun questions with many different answers. Here are some of those questions I use:

1. Foods labelled organic are better for people to eat
2. More money should be spent on <science A> than <science B>.
3. <science discovery or invention> is the most significant discovery/invention in the last 10 years.
4. The smartest organism on earth is <>.
5. 10 years from now, a career that would be in demand is…

Wrap Up

Do lobsters feel pain (and, therefore, is it cruel to boil them in hot water)? For our purposes, whether this is true or not is important as how scientists present the arguments themselves. This shows science and scientific thinking in action. It shows how scientists make claims, present supporting evidence, and connect their ideas and facts with greater or previous science ideas. In a nutshell, this debate shows CER in action. Click the link below to download the handouts (REAL Science – CER Practice Worksheet) which includes some practice statements. And, connect with us on our Facebook group (Super Science Teachers Co-Lab).

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): 28 – CER Practice Worksheet

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In August 2017, I posted a question on a Facebook group asking for a good first day activity for the science classroom. One suggestion I got back I’ve used for all my science classes this year. It’s a keeper. The activity gets students to use CER. It is open ended and easily modified. And, most importantly, it is fun and engaging. We outline the activity below. We also provide a handout to a follow up activity for download at the end.

How to Intro CER on First Science Class

I believe every teacher has a getting-to-know you activity at the beginning of the school year. It might be a bingo chart students fill out. Or, it might be an interview. Whatever the activity may be, why not make include some CER right away?

The activity I use does both. Students get to learn about me (which is super important in my books) all the while practicing CER. And, the activity us quite simple to run.

Setup is as follows:

1. Grab 12-20 personal items from home or from around your classroom and put them out on a table. I put out a record player, a zippo lighter, an old Nintendo Gameboy DS, some floppy discs, and a home digital picture printer.

2. Tell students to examine the items. Suggest to students to ask, “why does my teacher have this item? What does this item say about my teacher?”

3. Ask students to take out a sheet or paper and write a paragraph using the CER framework. First, come up with a CLAIM about the teacher. Then, have students provide EVIDENCE for that claim. Emphasize they need to use several items together to support the claim. Finally, have students provide REASONS why the evidence supports the claim. For example, a student could claim that I am sentimental. Students examining my objects could argue that record players, home photo printers, and floppy discs are considered old technology. The only reason I would keep old technology for this long is because it may have a special meaning to me. For example, perhaps the record player reminds me of my childhood.

4. Have students write 2 more claims for a total of 3 claims (and 3 paragraphs).

The Results of my CER Intro Activity

What I had most fun with was introducing each of my items to the students. Many students didn’t know what floppy discs were (one student said they were CD covers). Some students were amazed by the 1st generation Apple digital camera I had. And, the Gameboy was also very popular among students. But, I digress. Let’s talk about how this relates to CER.

From the items I laid out, many of my students mentioned that I was into keeping old things. Some students also claimed that perhaps I was really interested in photography. However, students did struggle to come up with 3 strong claims based on the objects provided.

One suggestion for future sessions is to bring objects of different time periods and different parts of my life. Yes, I put out objects that were different from each other, but they were also similar in theme (all “old school” objects). Next time, maybe I can put out a dance trophy I won, a book that I’m currently reading (old perhaps my favourite), or a movie ticket stub.

Follow up Activity

After students analyze me and the objects I lay out, I have students go home to grab 15 objects from home that represent who they are. And, I have them bring them to school for the next class. Then, I pair students up and have them analyze each other’s items. They must come up with 3 claims as well.

You can collect the pieces or have students read them out in front of the class or both. If a student doesn’t bring any items (or forgets to bring them), have the student open up his backpack or pencil case for analysis. What a student keeps in their backpack can reveal quite a bit regarding what the student is like.

Wrap Up

There are many ways a CER intro activity can be done. This one just happens to hit two birds with one stone. First, students learn about the teacher and each other. And, they also get to practice CER. Also, an added bonus is that they learn a little bit more about each other. I’d say having all three done through a CER intro activity is a big win. To download our handouts to this activity, click on the link below. Thanks for reading, and please share!

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): 27 – CER Intro Activity Handout

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So, what is a good CER rubric? It’s a rubric that provides feedback for students and is also customizable for each classroom. I outline how this can be done down below. I also give a pdf sample for a CER rubric that you can download at the end of this post.

The Basic CER rubric

How I create my CER rubrics for my classroom is based on the ideas from pro-d workshop by Peter Liljedahl, professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, that I attended. In short, rubrics need to measure what we value as teachers. And, rubrics do not need to have a number scale or multiple categories. Instead, a line representing a range of ability can be drawn between two ends of ability spectrum. On one end, we write a description of a poor outcome of the aspect we are evaluating. On the other end, we write a description of an excellent outcome of the same aspect. To use the rubric, teachers merely have to make a mark along the line indicating where the student’s ability currently is for the aspect being evaluated. That’s it. No need for multiple descriptions breaking down a 1, 2, or 3. This way of writing a CER rubric that is loose enough for teachers to account for the “grey areas”. At the same time, it also provides students with feedback because it shows where along the range they currently sit with regards to the ability being evaluated.

For example, let’s say I create a rubric to measure the “Evidence” aspect of CER. On the lowest end of the spectrum, I can write “Does not provide evidence, or only provides inappropriate or vague evidence.” On the highest end of the spectrum, I can write “Provides multiple sources of quantitative and qualitative measurements and observations from the investigation.” I finish off by drawing a line with an arrowhead at both ends (signifying a range). Ta-da! Rubric done!

An Even Better CER Rubric

The key to making this even more effective, according to Peter Liljedahl, is for students to both create and use the rubric themselves. For example, for a rubric that measures how a student presents evidence in CER, ask students what a very poor job at presenting evidence looks like. Chances are, they already know what it looks like. And, if they don’t, you can give them some guidance. The important thing is to write their suggestions down word-for-word and to use their exact wording to create a class CER rubric. In having students create this rubric, they get a basic understanding of what weak and strong work looks like as well as what the teacher is looking for in their work.

Then, the next time a student submits CER work, give them a copy of the class CER rubric. Have students mark where they believe their own work falls on the spectrum. If a student’s self evaluation is in line with what you see on the spectrum, then it’s a good thing because they are starting to understand where their own ability currently is and where they need to go. If a student’s self evaluation is way off from what you see on the spectrum, then this is also good because it opens up a discussion with the student and what they believe. It’s a win-win.

Wrap Up

Rubrics need to give feedback to the student. And, rubrics need to measure what teachers find important. A good CER rubric will do both. And, a good rubric is one that students create together by defining the ends of the spectrum as a class. It’s also a rubric students use themselves. Click on the link below to download our handout. If you want to check out our CER resources, please visit posts #4, #9, #12, and #20.

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): 21 – CER Rubric

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