Research

McNeill, Katherine L., and Dean M. Martin. “Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning.” Science and Children 48, no. 8 (2011): 52–56. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43176206. 

Summary: Elementary students in this article use claims, evidence, and reasoning to communicate their findings and support claims. This strategy can be introduced by asking students questions about everyday situations. Students will start by answering a question, providing data to support their answer, and then explaining how it supports their answer. This model can then be applied to any science concept to help students practice using evidence to communicate their findings.

Research

Monteira, Sabela F., and María Pilar Jiménez-Aleixandre. “The Practice of Using Evidence in Kindergarten: The Role of Purposeful Observation.” Journal of Research in Science Teaching  53, no. 8 (2015): 1232–1258. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21259.

Summary: The article explains how using evidence can benefit young students by providing the results of a study including early childhood students. This study found that having students practice using purposeful observation as a method of evidence is beneficial and helps students develop a deeper understanding of the content they are studying.