ScienceEnglish Language Arts9-12+
Sustainability CER Choice Questions for 9th Grade
By Annie K.
A short, student-choice writing packet in which 9th graders pick one of three questions about their Blue Lake fishing game and answer it with a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning response built from their own data table. It builds scientific argument writing, analysis of shared-resource trade-offs, and connections between a classroom model and real-world sustainability.
Customize for your classroom
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use this as a writing task after students finish the Blue Lake game and have completed their data tables, so the evidence they cite comes directly from their own play.
- Discussion question: What patterns did your group see in the fish population across rounds, and which of your decisions do you think caused them?
- Scaffold for struggling writers: have them first complete a claim sentence stem ("Our fishing limit led to...") and pull two specific numbers from the data table before drafting the reasoning.
- Extension for advanced students: ask them to compare two of the three options or propose one policy change to the Blue Lake scenario and justify it with evidence.
- Estimated time: about 40-50 minutes of class time for planning and drafting, with another short block for revision.
ScienceEnglish Language Arts9-12+
Sustainability CER Choice Questions for 9th Grade
By Annie K.
A short, student-choice writing packet in which 9th graders pick one of three questions about their Blue Lake fishing game and answer it with a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning response built from their own data table. It builds scientific argument writing, analysis of shared-resource trade-offs, and connections between a classroom model and real-world sustainability.
Customize for your classroom
Teacher Guide & Tips
- Use this as a writing task after students finish the Blue Lake game and have completed their data tables, so the evidence they cite comes directly from their own play.
- Discussion question: What patterns did your group see in the fish population across rounds, and which of your decisions do you think caused them?
- Scaffold for struggling writers: have them first complete a claim sentence stem ("Our fishing limit led to...") and pull two specific numbers from the data table before drafting the reasoning.
- Extension for advanced students: ask them to compare two of the three options or propose one policy change to the Blue Lake scenario and justify it with evidence.
- Estimated time: about 40-50 minutes of class time for planning and drafting, with another short block for revision.