SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS Claim, Evidence, Reasoning

claim - what you know


  • A one or two sentence statement of your understanding of the question being asked.
  • The claim answers the original question by expressing what you want the audience to understand or believe.
  • A hypothesis about the results of an investigation describing the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
  • A precise and clear, carefully constructed sentence, explaining your thoughts about the question being asked.
  • Use key words and ideas from the question as you write your claim.
evidence - How you know


  • Evidence is scientific data or facts used to support the claim.
  • Evidence supports the claim in order to convince someone else that the claim is true.
  • Data refers to all of your collected observations, evidence refers to data that is used to support your claim.
  • Evidence can come from readings, lectures, investigations, observations, or your own research.
  • Deciding which data to choose and how to present those data as evidence is a key step in constructing a scientific explanation.
  • Evidence can be qualitative or quantitative, but must be appropriate and sufficient.
reasoning - Why your evidence supports your claim


  • Your reasoning justifies why the evidence supports the claim.
  • Reasoning shows why the evidence you chose is the correct evidence.
  • Reasoning should demonstrate how scientific knowledge and theories connect the evidence to the claim.
  • Use logic, analogies, and examples to show the link from the evidence to the claim.

Images from

Information from

Made with Adobe Slate

Make your words and images move.

Get Slate

Report Abuse

