Empirical evidence v Logical Reasoning

​Copy these vocab words into your notebook

• ​claim- a statement you want to prove to be true

• empirical data- information you gather from doing an experiment. It is the evidence to support your claim

• evidence- proof

• ​scientific argumentation- supporting a claim with evidence from more than one perspective, makes claim stronger

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Today's lesson will cover:

• Why you need evidence to support your claims

• How empirical data helps support your claims

• How scientific argumentation makes your claim stronger by giving more than one perspective​ of data

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Which of the following claims do you think is stronger?

Claim 1 is stronger because there is evidence from more than 1 perspective

Evidence:

• He is nice to his teachers

​Claim 2: John is a good student

Evidence:

• She has straight A's

• She ​is never absent

• She completes all her work

• She is nice to her teachers​

​Claim 1: Sarah is a good student

The claim about Sarah was an example of scientific argumentation

​scientific argumentation: supporting a claim with evidence from more than one perspective

• There are multiple perspectives to consider when deciding what makes a good student (grades, attendance, participation, attitude)

• Sarah had​ 4 different perspectives of evidence to prove she was a good student but John only had 1.

• Because Sarah had multiple perspectives on her side, the claim that she is a good student was stronger than John's claim

• More evidence = stronger claim​

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Skin test: Put different SPF sunscreen on the skin and lay in the sun. After 1 hour, compare how burnt the skin is

​Empirical Evidence 2

UV Light Test: show how much UV light gets through to the skin. Sunscreen should block UV light

​Empirical Evidence 1

Claim: People should wear sunscreen to protect their skin from the sun ​

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Logical Reasoning

Logical reasoning tests are designed to measure your ability on logical reasoning and problem solving. You will be tested on whether you are able to analyse the visual graphics / graphs being displayed and to logically deduce the correct answer based on the answer options. 

Determining the Truth Value of a statement...

• Take note about quantifiers "all" and "some"...

• 'All' means that every object or case satisfies a certain condition. 'All' can also be substituted with words like 'every' or 'each'.

• 'Some' means a few and not every object or case satisfies a certain condition.'Some' can also be substituted with words like 'part of', 'a few of' or 'one of'

Argumentation consists of three parts: a claim, evidence, and reasoning.

• a claim is an opinion statement that usually answers a question

• evidence is a fact or observation that helps prove the claim to be true

• reasoning explains HOW the evidence proves the claim

So, how do you write a reasoning sentence that explains HOW the evidence proves the claim?

First, go back to the claim and evidence sentences and identify what they have in common. This is what you will need to explain or expand upon in your reasoning sentence(s).

For example,

• Claim: Dogs make the best pets.

• Evidence: Last year, dogs competing at the International Purina Dog Show won $500,000 for their owners.

So, you must explain how winning $500,000 makes dogs best.

For example (continued),

• Claim: Dogs make the best pets.

• Evidence: Last year, dogs competing at the International Purina Dog Show won $500,000 for their owners.

• Reasoning: Pups can make their owners rich, so they never have to work again.

• ​1st or 2nd sentence​

• Answers the question/prompt

• Will come first in the paragraph

CLAIM

​In “Piper” the baby bird has to figure out a way to get food on her own and solves her problem by trying something new. For example, at first she tries finding food the way the other birds do by looking for bubbles after the water goes back. Ultimately she is unsuccessful and ends up getting tumbled by a wave. However, at 3:56, she watches the hermit crab family burrow into the sand before the wave approaches, and tries it herself. She was not tossed by the waves, and upon opening her eyes underwater, she saw all the clams come out of the sand at the same time. This shows that by watching the crabs, she found a new technique to resolve the conflict. By using the hermit crabs’ technique, she knows where all the clams are immediately. This approach is new from the technique the other birds use and is more effective than waiting for bubbles to reveal where only some of the clams are. By trying something new, Piper not only solves her problem, but finds a better way to hunt for food.

• ​after claim

• proves the claim is correct

• c​omes directly from the text/source

Evidence

​​In “Piper” the baby bird has to figure out a way to get food on her own and solves her problem by trying something new. For example, at first she tries finding food the way the other birds do by looking for bubbles after the water goes back. Ultimately she is unsuccessful and ends up getting tumbled by a wave. However, at 3:56, she watches the hermit crab family burrow into the sand before the wave approaches, and tries it herself. She was not tossed by the waves, and upon opening her eyes underwater, she saw all the clams come out of the sand at the same time. This shows that by watching the crabs, she found a new technique to resolve the conflict. By using the hermit crabs’ technique, she knows where all the clams are immediately. This approach is new from the technique the other birds use and is more effective than waiting for bubbles to reveal where only some of the clams are. By trying something new, Piper not only solves her problem, but finds a better way to hunt for food.

• ​after evidence

• explains HOW and WHY that evidence proves the claim.

Reasoning

​​In “Piper” the baby bird has to figure out a way to get food on her own and solves her problem by trying something new. For example, at first she tries finding food the way the other birds do by looking for bubbles after the water goes back. Ultimately she is unsuccessful and ends up getting tumbled by a wave. However, at 3:56, she watches the hermit crab family burrow into the sand before the wave approaches, and tries it herself. She was not tossed by the waves, and upon opening her eyes underwater, she saw all the clams come out of the sand at the same time. This shows that by watching the crabs, she found a new technique to resolve the conflict. By using the hermit crabs’ technique, she knows where all the clams are immediately. This approach is new from the technique the other birds use and is more effective than waiting for bubbles to reveal where only some of the clams are. By trying something new, Piper not only solves her problem, but finds a better way to hunt for food.