NSES Content Standard A  Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry Grades 9-12, page 175 Communicate and defend a scientific argument. Students in school science programs should develop the abilities associated with accurate and effective communication. These include writing and following procedures, expressing concepts, reviewing information, summarizing data, using language appropriately, developing diagrams and charts, explaining statistical analysis, speaking clearly and logically, constructing a reasoned argument, and responding appropriately to critical comments.

 
Benchmark 1C The Nature of Science: The Scientific Enterprise
Grades 6-8, page 18
Accurate record-keeping, openness, and replication are essential for maintaining an investigator's credibility with other scientists and society.

Benchmark 9E The Mathematical World: Reasoning
Grades 9-12, page 234
To be convincing, an argument needs to have both true statements and valid connections among them. Formal logic is mostly about connections among statements, not about whether they are true. People sometimes use poor logic even if they begin with true statements, and sometimes they use logic that begins with untrue statements.

Benchmark 9E The Mathematical World: Reasoning
Grades 9-12, page 234
Logic requires a clear distinction among reasons: A reason may be sufficient to get a result, but perhaps is not the only way to get there; or, a reason may be necessary to get the result, but it may not be enough by itself; some reasons may be both sufficient and necessary.

Benchmark 9E The Mathematical World: Reasoning
Grades 9-12, page 234
Wherever a general rule comes from, logic can be used in testing how well it works. Proving a generalization to be false (just one exception will do) is easier than proving it to be true (for all possible cases). Logic may be of limited help in finding solutions to problems if one isn't sure that general rules always hold or that particular information is correct; most often, one has to deal with probabilities rather than certainties.

Benchmark 12B Habits of Mind: Computation and Estimation
Grades 9-12, page 291
Compare data for two groups by representing their averages and spreads graphically.

Benchmark 12D Habits of Mind: Communication Skills
Grades 9-12, page 297
Make and interpret scale drawings.

Benchmark 12D Habits of Mind: Communication Skills
Grades 9-12, page 297
Write clear, step-by-step instructions for conducting investigations, operating something, or following a procedure.

Benchmark 12D Habits of Mind: Communication Skills
Grades 9-12, page 297
Choose appropriate summary statistics to describe group differences, always indicating the spread of the data as well as the data's central tendencies.

Benchmark 12D Habits of Mind: Communication Skills
Grades 9-12, page 297
Describe spatial relationships in geometric terms such as perpendicular, parallel, tangent, similar, congruent, and symmetrical.

Benchmark 12D Habits of Mind: Communication Skills
Grades 9-12, page 297
Use and correctly interpret relational terms such as if . . . then . . . , and, or, sufficient, necessary, some, every, not, correlates with, and causes.

Benchmark 12D Habits of Mind: Communication Skills
Grades 9-12, page 297
Participate in group discussions on scientific topics by restating or summarizing accurately what others have said, asking for clarification or elaboration, and expressing alternative positions.

Benchmark 12D Habits of Mind: Communication Skills
Grades 9-12, page 297
Use tables, charts, and graphs in making arguments and claims in oral and written presentations.

Benchmark 12E Habits of Mind: Critical-Response Skills
Grades 9-12, page 300
Insist that the critical assumptions behind any line of reasoning be made explicit so that the validity of the position being taken--whether one's own or that of others--can be judged.