Task 3 RA2 Explaining Trends and Evaluating Evidence to RQ

You will use your own research question (RQ) and printed evidence sources to explain why the trends in your evidence occur and evaluate how well the evidence supports your research question.

Your response should use scientific reasoning, refer to your evidence sources, and make a clear judgement about the strength of the evidence.

Do not focus on identifying limitations, suggesting improvements, or drawing a final conclusion (this will be done in a later task).

Important information about this activity

This activity is designed to help you practise explaining trends using scientific reasoning and evaluating how well evidence supports your research question.

The system will provide feedback on how you explain trends, use evidence, and justify your judgement.

However, it will not check:

• whether your scientific explanation is fully correct
• whether your explanation uses the most appropriate scientific ideas
• whether your judgement about the evidence is the best possible conclusion

It is your responsibility to:

• ensure your scientific explanation is accurate
• check that your reasoning matches your evidence
• make sure your response clearly answers your research question

All data and evidence used to explain trends or relationships must be included in your printed logbook. If your teacher cannot locate the referenced evidence, your explanation cannot be verified and may not be fully credited.

Explain why the trends occur and evaluate how well the evidence supports your research question (RQ).

In your response, refer to your evidence (Evidence Source 1, 2, etc.) and explain the scientific reasons for the trends you identified. Use evidence to support your explanation.

Then evaluate how well the evidence supports your research question by making a clear judgement and justifying your answer.

Do not re-describe the trends in detail. Focus on explaining and evaluating. Write your response in third person scientific style (do not use “I” or “we”).