Science

  

The ABCD’s of Explaining Your Reasoning

In composing a paragraph explanation, try to follow the ABCD’s: Answer, Basic physics, Cite information,
Draw it together.

Answer the Question

The first thing to do is to clearly and directly answer the question asked. On some problems, students are given
pre-determined answers and asked to put a check mark next to the correct answer. If you are not given these,
then make sure you answer the question in a way that is clear and unambiguous.

DO DON’T
State whether something increases, decreases, or stays Just say that something “changes”. We need to know
the same. how it changes.

If given two or more cases to choose from, state which Talk about how it could be either case or both. You
case answers the question, or clearly state that both need to commit to an answer.
cases are the same.

In some cases, the answer is given to you already. For example, you might be asked “explain why the sun is
brighter than the moon” rather than “which is brighter: the sun or the moon and explain your reasoning”. In
these cases where the answer is already given to you, you may do only the BCD’s.

Basic Physics

Your explanation needs to include at least one statement of basic physics. You’ll know that this is a statement
of basic physics because a statement of basic physics is true all the time, every day, and in all situations. Basic
physics can be the name of a law of physics, like “Newton’s Third Law”, or it can be a statement of the law
itself, such as “when the horse pulls the cart, the cart pulls back on the horse with the same force.”

Basic physics can also be an equation or a relationship, like “Kinetic energy is K = ½mv2” or “if the net force is
the same either way, then mass and acceleration are inversely proportional.”

Cite Important Information

This is when you point out important aspects of this particular situation that are relevant to your explanation.
The Cite Information sentence should start with the words “in this situation” or “in Case 1” or “for the small
cart, …” and proceed to say something about the particular problem you are presented with.

If you are presented with two or more cases to consider, or two or more objects appear in the problem, you
should consider doing a “compare and contrast”. “Compare” means saying what is the same between the two
cases, and “contrast” means saying what is different (specifically in which case is some quantity more or less).

Draw It All Together

This is when you take your statements of basic physics and the important information that you cited from this
situation and show how it logically leads to the correct answer. Depending on how well you do your B’s and
C’s, your “Draw it Together” might only be a single sentence.

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 Science

  

Note: If your teacher uses the “claim, evidence, reasoning” or CER method of writing a justification, then the
“claim” would be the answer, the “evidence” would be the basic physics and citing important information, and
the “reasoning” would be drawing it all together.
Building Physics Sentences

We know that a sentence must consist of at least a noun (subject) and a verb (action or predicate). Sentences in
physics need not be complicated; the best sentences are short and to the point.

Good Nouns

In physics, good nouns are either objects in the

situation that you are presented, pieces of lab
equipment you are using, or the quantities shown on
the AP Physics Table of Equations.

Good Verbs

Your nouns will do things:

• Objects will speed up, slow down, change

direction, gain/lose/transfer energy,
gain/lose/transfer momentum, exert or experience
forces, etc.

•
Lab equipment will be used to make measurements.

•
Quantities like the ones seen on the AP Physics Table of Equations will increase, decrease, go up, go down,
remain constant, be the same in both cases, be greater in one of the cases, be directly proportional, be
inversely proportional, etc.

DON’T DO THESE THINGS

Never write the words “it”, “they”, or “them”. It is a sure-fire sign that you have no idea what is going on or
how to communicate your response and will likely result in receiving zero points. You have been warned.

Don’t restate the question in your answer, and don’t just repeat back to the grader information that you were
given in the problem. You should incorporate given information in your response, but simply repeating back to
the grader means you don’t know what you are doing.

Don’t write more than you need to. More words don’t mean more points. If the grader has trouble finding the
correct parts of your response, you might not get all the points you deserve. If you include extraneous
information, you will not get full points. If you include incorrect information, you will not get full points.

Never just say “force”; say which force you are talking about (normal/tension/weight/friction) or the “net
force”. Never just say “energy”; say which type of energy, and for what object or system. Never just say
“field”; say “gravitational field” or “electric field” or “magnetic field”. Never just say “rate”; say which
quantity is changing with time. Never just say “components”; say what vector and which component you are
referring to.

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