Causes and effects of ____?
October 17, 2018 1:54 PM Subscribe
Looking for some examples of things students can discuss potential causes and effects of in a short group activity tomorrow. Examples inside but I'm game for anything so long as students can speculate causes and effects of the occurrence. Much appreciated!
Hi all, it's been an unexpectedly difficult day and I'm asking the hivemind for help with tomorrow's lesson plan for my ENC 1101 English class on cause and effect. I need 29 examples of changes/fears/feel-free-to-propose-whatever-as-long-as-it-fits-the-assignment that groups of students can discuss potential causes and effects of in an activity. Example: fears of vaccinations, mass public shootings. Feel free to choose lighter topics! I can't seem to think of any right now but this is a short activity so I'm not looking to cause heated debates among students. Thank you!!
Hi all, it's been an unexpectedly difficult day and I'm asking the hivemind for help with tomorrow's lesson plan for my ENC 1101 English class on cause and effect. I need 29 examples of changes/fears/feel-free-to-propose-whatever-as-long-as-it-fits-the-assignment that groups of students can discuss potential causes and effects of in an activity. Example: fears of vaccinations, mass public shootings. Feel free to choose lighter topics! I can't seem to think of any right now but this is a short activity so I'm not looking to cause heated debates among students. Thank you!!
Effect of Netflix on brick & mortar video stores
Rain forest depletion
Increased availability of organic foods
Effect of compulsory education
Effect of the DREAM act
Effect of Amazon and online shopping on shipping companies (UPS, USPS, etc.)
posted by hydra77 at 2:15 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Rain forest depletion
Increased availability of organic foods
Effect of compulsory education
Effect of the DREAM act
Effect of Amazon and online shopping on shipping companies (UPS, USPS, etc.)
posted by hydra77 at 2:15 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Some physical examples:
-one billiard ball striking another causes it to move
-bowling ball hitting pins causes them to fall over
-earthquake under the ocean causes a tsunami
-decreased number of predators means the species in the middle of the food chain can overpopulate (eg decreased wolves means more deer)
-sugary drinks cause cavities by letting bacteria overgrow
-sneezing can transmit the common cold
-lack of vitamin C causes scurvy
-acid rain causes deterioriation of limestone in buildings/outdoor sculptures/gravestones
-magma rising under the earth's surface causes volcanoes (oversimplification but I mean the general topic)
-baking soda + vinegar yields a chemical reaction of expanding gases
-inhaling helium makes your voice sound high for a short time
-blowing air through a tube (eg flute) makes a musical sound, covering different holes or changing the length of the tube changes the sound
-plucking a taut string makes a musical sound, changing the length of the string changes the sound
-exposure to sunlight can cause sunburn
-moving a pencil/crayon/piece of charcoal on a surface leaves a mark
-earth's magnetic field causes a compass arrow to point north
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:16 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
-one billiard ball striking another causes it to move
-bowling ball hitting pins causes them to fall over
-earthquake under the ocean causes a tsunami
-decreased number of predators means the species in the middle of the food chain can overpopulate (eg decreased wolves means more deer)
-sugary drinks cause cavities by letting bacteria overgrow
-sneezing can transmit the common cold
-lack of vitamin C causes scurvy
-acid rain causes deterioriation of limestone in buildings/outdoor sculptures/gravestones
-magma rising under the earth's surface causes volcanoes (oversimplification but I mean the general topic)
-baking soda + vinegar yields a chemical reaction of expanding gases
-inhaling helium makes your voice sound high for a short time
-blowing air through a tube (eg flute) makes a musical sound, covering different holes or changing the length of the tube changes the sound
-plucking a taut string makes a musical sound, changing the length of the string changes the sound
-exposure to sunlight can cause sunburn
-moving a pencil/crayon/piece of charcoal on a surface leaves a mark
-earth's magnetic field causes a compass arrow to point north
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:16 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Do they need to be social changes, for your lesson? I was thinking simple physical examples might be easier if you're looking for just practicing the language of cause and effect without upsetting social content. But if you want social examples, maybe look at social changes (and wider changes like infrastructure) that came from developments in technology/inventions:
- cellphones and social media
- transportation technology - eg trains, cars, airplanes, hybrids/electrics? self-driving cars?
- refrigeration
- mass media (radio and tv)
- the printing press and moveable type
- telephones
- computers
- electricity/ electric lights
- antibiotics
- vaccines
- anesthesia for surgeries and dentist visits
- power tools vs hand tools
- plastic
And for fear, maybe just simpler fears that an individual might have -
- fear of public speaking
- fear of flying
- fear of failure
- fear of missing out
- fear of being alone
- fear of big crowds
- fear of small spaces
- fear of dogs
- fear of spiders
- fear of being embarrassed in front of people
- fear of making a mistake
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:58 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
- cellphones and social media
- transportation technology - eg trains, cars, airplanes, hybrids/electrics? self-driving cars?
- refrigeration
- mass media (radio and tv)
- the printing press and moveable type
- telephones
- computers
- electricity/ electric lights
- antibiotics
- vaccines
- anesthesia for surgeries and dentist visits
- power tools vs hand tools
- plastic
And for fear, maybe just simpler fears that an individual might have -
- fear of public speaking
- fear of flying
- fear of failure
- fear of missing out
- fear of being alone
- fear of big crowds
- fear of small spaces
- fear of dogs
- fear of spiders
- fear of being embarrassed in front of people
- fear of making a mistake
posted by LobsterMitten at 2:58 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Unregulated construction in a flood zone => flooding and water quality problems
Deforestation => erosion
Killing off small predators that eat mice => astronomic increase in tick population
posted by suelac at 3:24 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Deforestation => erosion
Killing off small predators that eat mice => astronomic increase in tick population
posted by suelac at 3:24 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
You might want to check out Loopy, which is a great visual tool for exploring systems & loops. I've had great success with it in a class setting.
posted by suedehead at 7:28 PM on October 17, 2018
posted by suedehead at 7:28 PM on October 17, 2018
In the academic literature on causality everybody seems to use smoking as the example.
The cigarette companies used to argue that maybe smoking didn't cause lung cancer, maybe there was some hidden genetic property that both gave people cancer and also made them want to smoke. But nobody takes this seriously nowadays, because we have some idea of precisely how smoking causes cancer (tar deposits in the lungs, etc.), we're not just looking at associations. If you want to talk about causation it really helps to have an idea of the actual mechanism by which it happens.
Later, in sort of a meta version of the same issue, the cigarette companies argued that their false and misleading advertisements didn't cause people to smoke and so they shouldn't be liable for damages (they lost the case, though).
Probably good to encourage the kids not to smoke and get them thinking about cigarette company propaganda; the challenge is to avoid making vaping seem like a good idea just because it's relatively safer.
posted by vogon_poet at 8:57 PM on October 17, 2018
The cigarette companies used to argue that maybe smoking didn't cause lung cancer, maybe there was some hidden genetic property that both gave people cancer and also made them want to smoke. But nobody takes this seriously nowadays, because we have some idea of precisely how smoking causes cancer (tar deposits in the lungs, etc.), we're not just looking at associations. If you want to talk about causation it really helps to have an idea of the actual mechanism by which it happens.
Later, in sort of a meta version of the same issue, the cigarette companies argued that their false and misleading advertisements didn't cause people to smoke and so they shouldn't be liable for damages (they lost the case, though).
Probably good to encourage the kids not to smoke and get them thinking about cigarette company propaganda; the challenge is to avoid making vaping seem like a good idea just because it's relatively safer.
posted by vogon_poet at 8:57 PM on October 17, 2018
Sounds like you want effects with somewhat debatable causes to allow a questioning of the relationship. Perhaps colony collapse disorder in bees, or climate change - not because either is the subject of current heated debate, but because it's an interesting question as to how you prove what the cause might be and how confident you can be in your answer.
Other (apparently medically themed, not sure where my mind is this evening) questions that come to mind that came to an eventual conclusion but that were not obvious at the time: the radium girls painting watch faces and their health issues, the discovery that having cowpox made you immune to smallpox (which was a statistical truism long before we understood the immune system), how fruit was found to prevent scurvy.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 8:58 PM on October 17, 2018
Other (apparently medically themed, not sure where my mind is this evening) questions that come to mind that came to an eventual conclusion but that were not obvious at the time: the radium girls painting watch faces and their health issues, the discovery that having cowpox made you immune to smallpox (which was a statistical truism long before we understood the immune system), how fruit was found to prevent scurvy.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 8:58 PM on October 17, 2018
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Decreases in crime rates
Declining birth rates
Increases in commuter cycling
Decreases in commuter cycling
Increases in public transit use
Decreases in public transit use
Rising obesity rates
Rising cancer rates
Falling smoking rates
Rising average age
Red-shirting children in kindergarten
More children in daycare
More cars on the road
Declining voting rates
Other thoughts:
Opiate crisis
Climate change
#metoo movement
Brexit
Incel movement
posted by jacquilynne at 2:06 PM on October 17, 2018 [1 favorite]