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Opinion and Evidence
T
wo girls just finished a sponge activity. They were surprised
that their 4-
gram (g)
sponge soaked up 32 g of water. That
seems like a lot for such a small sponge.
As they recorded data in notebooks, Teasha said, “If we had
a natural sponge, it would soak up even more water.”
“How do you know?” asked Kim.
“I just know it would,” replied Teasha. “Natural things are always
better. I would always choose a natural sponge. I’m sure it would
work better.”
“So you’ve never tested a natural sponge to find out if it can soak
up more water than a synthetic sponge?” asked Kim.
“Well, no, I never actually did the experiment,” admitted Teasha.
“But it makes sense to me that the natural sponge would soak up
water better.”
“We could find out for sure,” said Kim. “Let’s get a natural sponge
and test it. That should give us
evidence
about your
opinion
that
natural things are better.”
A natural sponge
A synthetic sponge
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