Question 124·Easy·Command of Evidence
Urban planners promote community gardens as a low-cost way to revitalize neighborhoods. The gardens bring neighbors together to plant and harvest vegetables, offer weekend workshops, and host seasonal festivals. Advocates also claim that community gardens improve residents' health by increasing their physical activity.
Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the claim in bold?
For “support the claim” questions, first underline the exact wording of the claim (especially any cause-and-effect language like “by increasing…”). Quickly restate it in your own words, focusing on the key variable that must change (here, residents’ physical activity). Then scan the answer choices and immediately cross out any that talk about different outcomes (appearance, cleanliness, production, etc.) or ignore the key variable. Among the remaining options, prefer one that includes concrete evidence—like data, a comparison group, or a clear description of the behavior that directly matches the claim’s wording.
Hints
Focus on the bolded claim
Read the bolded sentence again and underline the specific thing advocates are claiming community gardens do for residents.
Name the key idea in your own words
Paraphrase the bold claim: what exactly is supposed to be changing for residents who are involved in community gardens?
Match the answer choices to that key idea
For each option, ask: Does this tell me anything about how much physical activity residents are getting, especially compared with people without community gardens?
Look for comparison or measurement
A strong support statement for a cause-and-effect claim often includes data or a comparison group—see if any option measures residents’ behavior and compares it to a similar group.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the exact claim that needs support
Focus on the bolded part of the passage: “community gardens improve residents' health by increasing their physical activity.”
Break it into pieces:
- Subject: residents who use community gardens
- Key idea: they get more physical activity
- Result: this is supposed to improve health
To support this, we need evidence that connects community gardening to increased physical activity (not just any positive effect).
Translate the claim into the type of evidence needed
Ask: What would a strong piece of evidence look like?
It would likely:
- Talk about residents who participate in community gardening.
- Mention their amount of physical activity.
- Compare them to a similar group without gardens or to their own activity level before joining.
Evidence about beauty, cleanliness, or food production helps show other benefits, but does not directly show that residents are more physically active.
Check each option against the required evidence
Go through the answer choices and ask for each one: Does this show that residents in community gardens get more physical activity than those without gardens?
- If a choice talks about social media, photos, or appearance, it is off-topic.
- If it talks about littering or cleanliness, that is about neighborhood condition, not activity levels.
- If it talks about how much food is produced, that is about output, not how active people are.
- Only a choice that measures and compares physical activity for gardeners versus non-gardeners directly supports the bold claim.
Select the statement that directly supports the claim
The correct answer is: “A study finds that residents who participate in community gardening engage in 30% more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week than residents in similar neighborhoods without gardens.”
This option:
- Focuses on residents who participate in community gardening.
- Measures their moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week.
- Compares them to similar residents without gardens.
That directly supports the claim that community gardens improve health by increasing physical activity.