Benchmark 12E
Habits of Mind: Critical-Response Skills
Grades 6-8, page 299

Be skeptical of arguments based on very small samples of data, biased samples, or samples for which there was no control sample.
 

NSES Content Standard A 
Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
Grades 5-8, page 145
Design and conduct a scientific investigation. Students should develop general abilities, such as systematic observation, making accurate measurements, and identifying and controlling variables. They should also develop the ability to clarify their ideas that are influencing and guiding the inquiry, and to understand how those ideas compare with current scientific knowledge. Students can learn to formulate questions, design investigations, execute investigations, interpret data, use evidence to generate explanations, propose alternative explanations, and critique explanations and procedures.

NSES Content Standard A 
Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
Grades 9-12, page 175
Design and conduct scientific investigations. Designing and conducting a scientific investigation requires introduction to the major concepts in the area being investigated, proper equipment, safety precautions, assistance with methodological problems, recommendations for use of technologies, clarification of ideas that guide the inquiry, and scientific knowledge obtained from sources other than the actual investigation. The investigation may also require student clarification of the question, method, controls, and variables; student organization and display of data; student revision of methods and explanations; and a public presentation of the results with a critical response from peers. Regardless of the scientific investigation performed, students must use evidence, apply logic, and construct an argument for their proposed explanations.