Animal Adaptations CER Writing Activity for Middle School Science

Description

Guided examination of evidence and CER writing for middle schoolers learning about animal adaptations. Students become wildlife scientists and investigate this question using photographs, behavioral observations, territory maps, population data, graphs, and short research snippets.

Instead of simply identifying an animal adaptation, students must analyze evidence, look for patterns, compare possible explanations, and construct a scientific explanation supported by evidence.

This engaging, low-prep investigation is a great way to teach animal adaptations, behavioral adaptations, animal behavior, evidence-based reasoning, data analysis, and CER writing in a middle school science classroom.

How it works:

Students are presented with a mystery: A male songbird spends a significant amount of time singing. Why?

Students consider several possible explanations and then work through a series of Evidence Files to determine what the evidence suggests.

Evidence:

1. Photographs
2. Field observations of naturalists
3. Territory map before and after male singing increased
4. Population data
5. Graph of multiple populations of songbirds comparing number of offspring to frequency of singing
6. Research snippets explaining bird singing phenomena.

Students then use their evidence to evaluate competing explanations and develop their own scientific claim.

Finally, students use a basic template to write their own Claim-Evidence-Reasoning paragraph.

What’s Included:

• Student pages:
  • Intro
  • Investigator Notes pages
  • organize and compare evidence
  • compare hypotheses
  • CER basic template
  • Photographs of singing bird Evidence File
  • Territory Map Evidence File
  • Population Data Evidence File
  • Field Notes Evidence File
  • Graph Evidence File
  • Research Snippets Evidence File
• Teacher’s Guide
  • overview
  • standards and objectives
  • pacing suggestions
  • vocabulary
  • Preparation instructions
  • Suggested lesson sequence
  • Teacher notes for each Evidence File
  • Discussion questions and Evidence analysis guidance
  • CER response
  • Differentiation suggestions
  • Extension activities
  • Assessment rubric

Students don’t simply hunt for an answer hidden in a reading passage. They must build an explanation from multiple pieces of evidence.

Suggested Grades: 6–8

Prep: Low prep

Format: Printable PDF