Answer:
A CER(S) stands for Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, (Science).
Step-by-step explanation:
What is CER(S)?
The 1st part of CER(S) is a CLAIM. A claim is a simple, single sentence that answers a question. Your claim is a statement about what you believe to be true about that question. Your claim must be accurate, clear, and exact. Your claim should be the first sentence in your explanation. Your claim should ONLY answer the question – do not explain your answer at this point.
The 2nd part of CER(S) is EVIDENCE. The Evidence consists of data and/or results that can be used to support the claim. Evidence must be explicitly stated in sentence form and cannot merely be referenced. To adequately support a claim, the evidence must be appropriate (relevant to the question) and sufficient (enough provided to be convincing).
The 3rd part of CER(S) is the REASONING. The reasoning ties the evidence to the claim and explains why the evidence supports your claim. In this section, you discuss why the evidence that you provided is important and relevant to your claim.
The 4th and final part of CER(S) is the SCIENCE. Your teacher may not ask you to provide the supporting science for every CER(S) question – that is why the S is in parentheses. If you are asked to provide the science that supports your claim, then you need to discuss the relevant science and how it supports your claim.
Example of a CER(S)
Question: Use CERS to address the following question. “How does the length of a string affect the swing of a pendulum?”
Claim: As the length of the string increases, the time needed for a pendulum to make one complete swing increases.
Evidence: The time necessary for a pendulum to make one complete swing (back-and-forth) increases as the length of the string increases. When the string was 0.25 m the pendulum made a complete swing in 1.00 seconds. At each increase in length, there was a subsequent increase in time. When the string was 0.50 m the swing time was 1.42 seconds, at 0.75 m the time was 1.74 seconds, and at 1.00 m the time was 2.00 seconds.
Reasoning: My evidence supports my claim because it shows a clear direct relationship between the length of string and the time it takes for a pendulum to make one complete swing. There is a consistent increase in time as the length is increased, with no exceptions in our data. If our data are graphed, there is a distinct positive linear relationship between the variables with a slope of 1.33 sec/m. This slope indicates that for every additional meter of a string the time for one swing should increase by 1.33 seconds. This linear relationship should allow us to predict the swing time for any length of the string. This prediction could be tested, and if confirmed it would further support our claim.
Science: Our results make sense and would be expected based on Newton’s Law of Gravity and the concept of speed. According to the law of gravity, all objects fall at the same speed regardless of their masses. A swinging pendulum is essentially an object falling while attached to a string, so all pendula should fall at the same speed. The string of the pendulum causes the object to fall through an arc of a circle with the string serving as its radius. A longer string will have a longer radius, causing the object to swing through a larger arc. Objects moving at the same speed will cover the same distance at the same time but will require a longer time to travel a further distance. Since the pendulum with longer string swings through a longer arc it should take longer for it to make one complete swing. This relationship is exactly what we found in our results.