Virginia SOL LS.1.f.iii

ScienceGrades 7–8Life Science

The Standard

construct, use, and/or present an argument supported by empirical evidence and scientific reasoning

Virginia Standards of Learning for Science · The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific and engineering practices by

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students gather information and data from observations, investigations, and reliable sources. They make a clear claim, choose relevant evidence, and explain how the evidence supports the claim using science ideas.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can present a claim with accurate evidence from more than one source or trial. They connect each piece of evidence to the claim and respond to conflicting evidence or another explanation.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat opinions, examples, or repeated claims as evidence. They may list data without explaining the connection, choose only supporting results, or assume that correlation proves cause.
How to Assess It: Give students a short data table comparing plant growth under two light conditions. Ask them to write one claim, cite two data points, and explain their reasoning.

Lesson moves

Test yeast in warm and cold sugar water, record balloon size, then argue which temperature produced more gas and why.
Ask students to write whether school composting reduces waste, using three facts from a short class reading.
Sort claim, evidence, and reasoning cards into matched sets, then challenge another team to find one weak connection.
Compare an energy drink advertisement with its nutrition label and a health article, then identify which claims have solid support.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to LS.1.f.iii, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

Keep exploring

Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.