Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

The only way we get better at science skills – like CER – is to practice it constantly and in different contexts. Today, I want to share a quick ice breaker I do at the beginning of class with my students that can also be used to practice CER, which stands for claim, evidence, reasoning. This ice breaker generates a lot of fun discussion, but, unfortunately, comes with a controversial question: When did you stop believing in Santa?

Episode Notes

For this ice breaker

• I’ll ask the class to share with the person sitting next to them, at what age did you stop believing in Santa?
• Then, I give them two minutes for some animated discussion – a lot of students have a story of when they found out.
• After, I do a quick tally on a data table. If you teach multiple classes, keep all your class data – thus, you can show class data to students of different classes. 
•  One thing that I’ve come to realize in using ChatGPT is that it’s important to have a good idea of what my goal is when using ChatGPT before I run a query – because just like using Google, if I’m not specific in what I’m asking for – or I do a crappy job at asking – I’m going to get a lot of junk or crap as a response.
• Check video above and handouts below for sample data and sample CER statements.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep79 Handout – Santa CER Ice Breaker

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!