Apologia Biology Introduction to Claim Evidence Reasoning

After the kids have gone through Inquiry blocks and the Checks lab, I continue the idea of evidence-based reasoning. (Often scientists use this approach to drum home evolution.  But, my faith is also based on evidence of God's mercy every day!)  Just as Apologetics uses logic, so does science.  This post from Edutopia explains Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER).  This slideshow goes over the basic premise well.  I use the density table and ask kids if any of the liquids are the same.  It generates a good discussion.  It is important to have kids elicit why they think the liquids are the same or different based on the information from the table.  Do you prefer to use a prepared lesson when you try something new?  Clear Biology has one based on statistics designed for Biology students.
Kirsten Milks share a number of resources to develop CERs for AP Biology and includes this BSCS tool for kids to use to organixpze their thoughts.  What I want are examples in the slideshow from Pearson.  If you search the CER Framework, these examples will become familiar.  This NSTA Webinar has some more ideas to try.  Here are examples I plan to use.  Where do I find examples to use with my lessons all year?  Browse the MCAS Questions, particularly the short answer questions.  I don't use CER for all my lessons; instead I add these periodically during the course of the school year to keep the kids sharp.  I also ask kids to explain their reasoning during lab exercises.  Get in the habit of making your kids think!

Update: When you go to the MCAS question search, note that you must select the framework, strand, and topic.  For this question search, I specified science, biology, and ecology to see the questions available.  The site has answer keys, too.  Nice, right?