Year 9 Science · Unit 4 · Lesson 15

Synthesis: Building a Scientific Argument

Challenge Worksheet

Name
Date
Class

Learning Goals

Warm Up

Odd one out

Circle the item that does not belong in each group. Then explain why it doesn't fit in the answer column.

#GroupYour answer (odd one + reason)
1 Claim    Evidence    Reasoning    Number of likes
2 Peer-reviewed trial    Repeated independent test    Controlled comparison    One celebrity's story
3 Truncated axis    Mean and range    Correlation vs causation    A louder font
4 States the claim    Cites the data    Names a limitation    Says "this proves it"

Go Deeper

Build the argument

Stimulus

A wellness account posts: "STUDY SHOCK! Students who drink our berry smoothie every morning scored 25 percent higher in exams. The graph below proves smoothies make you smarter." The graph's vertical axis starts at 60, not 0. The "study" surveyed 30 of the company's own customers, who were also enrolled in a paid tutoring program at the same time. There is no peer-reviewed source.

(a) Run the claim through at least three steps of the unit's checklist (source, graph, statistics, cause vs correlation). Identify a problem at each step you choose.

Challenge 3 marks

(b) The customers were also in a paid tutoring program. Explain why this gives an alternative explanation for the higher scores, and name the idea from Lesson 14 this involves.

Challenge 3 marks

(c) Construct a full written scientific argument that responds to the post. Include a clear claim of your own, the evidence you would want, the reasoning that links it, and at least one limitation or alternative explanation. Hedge your conclusion appropriately.

Challenge 4 marks

Wrap Up

In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?

HSCScience · Year 9 Science · Unit 4 · Lesson 15 · Challenge Worksheet