The purpose of this study was to examine how small groups of students in an introductory undergraduate chemistry course construct CERs and the influence of race, gender, and perceived status during this construction. The small groups of students engaged in three chemistry activities that required them to generate a claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) pertaining to each activity. The activities focused on gas laws, solutions, and buffers. The last activity was the focus of this study. This activity was selected because students were experienced in CER construction and had worked with their group members over the course of the semester. This was a purposeful point to collect data given the focus of the study was on CER construction and how the students influenced this construction. Overtime, the students established their group norms and were experienced with CERs. The study design involved the collection of qualitative data, which included written artifacts, participant observations, and audio recordings. The students (n=14) were enrolled in the undergraduate introductory chemistry course the used the CERs. The data were analyzed to understand the quality of the CERs that were constructed by the students, and the interactions of the students in their small groups and their perceptions of one another. A rubric was used to analyze the CERs, while Scott et al.(2006) and Hoon and Hart (2007) were used to analyze the discourse in groups and the CERs. The findings of this study revealed that as participants move from individual to small groups their CER construction improved, the students improved in their CER use, the ideas represented in the CERs generated by the groups were more blended and explanatory, the males were more dialogic in their interaction while females were more authoritative, and gender was important in to consider in CER construction. From this study, it is evident that CERs add to the collection of active learning instructional techniques. In this study, they allowed students to interact with one another regarding important ideas in science. However, more studies are needed around CERs and in understanding how the groups work with one another. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]