For all you teachers on mm, a little food for thought.

Cause & Effect

Cause and effect is the relationship between two things when one thing makes something else happen. For example, if we eat too much food and do not exercise, we gain weight. Eating food without exercising is the "cause;" weight gain is the "effect." There may be multiple causes and multiple effects.

Looking for the reason why things happen (cause/effect) is a basic human drive. So, understanding the cause/effect text structure is essential in learning the basic ways the world works. Writers use this text structure to show order, inform, speculate, and change behavior. This text structure uses the process of identifying potential causes of a problem or issue in an orderly way. It is often used to teach social studies and science concepts.

Teaching Strategies that have been found effective in teaching the cause/effect text structure include:

* Teaching signal words that show cause/effect relationships, e.g., because, so, so that, if… then, consequently, thus, since, for, for this reason, as a result of, therefore, due to, this is how, nevertheless, and accordingly.
* Teaching how to look for the different kinds of cause/effect relationships:
o Stated cause/effect relationships: the relationship is stated clearly
o Unstated cause/effect relationships: students must be taught how to "read between the lines"
o Reciprocal cause/effect relationships: effects may be part of a chain. In this kind of structure, one effect goes on to cause a second effect, which may then cause a third effect, etc.

Teachers: Content Literacy http://www.literacymatters.org/content/text/cause.htm

Exercises: Cause and Effect http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/causeconnect.html

Cause & Effect Diagrams, Fishbone & Ishikawa Diagrams - Mind Tools
This article explains how to solve complex problems using fishbone / cause and effect diagrams. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_03.htm

Causality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality

Cause and effect - Google Search http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Cause+and+effect...=Google+Search&meta=


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Even the cleverest formulas are worthless without the animating spark of genius,
a quality for which there is no formula, only Serendipity.

The three principles of Serendipity = Insight, Chance, and discovery.
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Angelo,
(not a teacher, but always learning).

Another excellent resource I just found about about is Speak Up magazine, good for both student and teacher. Has lots of instant lessons for all levels about 6 euros at some newsagents.

rob

Thanks Rob, I´ll keep an eye open for speak-up magaine while out & about.

Sorry for the late response, quite busy this week.

Cheers,

Angelo.

hey Rob.

there is another magazine like that sold at news stands and i prefer it as it is less "stuffy" and "pijo" (snobby) than speak up.

it is called "think in english". see http://www.revistasprofesionales.com/sumario.php?id_revista=13&id_num=136

i discovered it many moons ago when i was working for the company designing some websites for them.

it all depends on the student group you are in front of. for a corporate class, speak up would be a good choise but for most classes, think in english is more relaxed and more fun for learning in general.

saludos,
jer...

Jer,

You bring up a good point with both magazines. Many of my students preferred "Think in English". I liked both of them for the reasons that you mentiond, but I still prefer creating my own lessons. They're great in a crunch or if you don't have time to create a lesson, but I really disliked Instant Ideas. A lot of them weren't instant ideas in my opinion.

Shawn