1. Students will identify the cause-effect relationships in a story and apply that pattern in their own story chains.
2. Students will be able to organize and write a paragraph dealing with cause-effect relationships.
The language arts portion of this interdisciplinary unit focuses on helping students to understand cause-effect relationships. They will see how understanding cause-effect will help them follow action in a story and better comprehend expository writing. Students should see that in a cause-effect relationship, one event causes the other to happen.
Researchers have observed that successful and unsuccessful students differ greatly in their use of reading-writing strategies. Many of these strategies are learned behaviors that directly affect academic performance. Evidence shows most students will not learn reading-writing strategies unless they receive specific instruction in their use. This unit offers specific instruction in cause-effect relationships.
It is important that a positive impression be created when the strategy is first encountered. Begin the unit by manipulating Dominoes as a springboard to teaching cause-effect relationships. Students will then physically organize a cause-effect story. Next, they will write their own cause-effect "chain story" and expository paragraph.
Teacher Notes
Objective:
Students will identify the cause-effect relationships in a story and then
construct their own cause-effect story which has an emphasis on energy reduction.
Materials:
set of Dominoes for each cooperative group.
story called An Energy Errand divided into 30 parts on laminated cards. (See Appendix C)
overhead of sample cause-effect energy story. (See Appendix C)
Suggested Teaching Strategies
Dominoes is a game that has survived the generations. For years children and adults have enjoyed assembling the black bars into patterns to cause a chain
reaction when the first Domino is pushed. Men and women who have perfected this art have even appeared on national television so millions of people could witness their skills.
Begin this activity by dividing the class into cooperative groups. Give each group an equal number of Dominoes. Allow students time to assemble the Dominoes into patterns that will cause an interesting and thorough chain reaction. After ample time, the members of each group will present their creation to the other members of the class.
At this time, it might also be fun to create a class design of Dominoes. Give each student five Dominoes. One student begins a class design, and all others follow suit, placing their Dominoes where they wish, adding to the pattern in the process. Continue to bring out the cause-effect relationship as students work with the Dominoes.
Follow the Dominoes activity with these discussion questions:
1. What patterns worked best? Why?
2. What patterns did not work? Why?
3. How does this activity relate to your life? (Lead students to see that life is a series of cause-effect relationships.)
To further illustrate the point that life is a series of cause-effect relationships, hand out one of the cause-effect story cards to each student. (See Appendix C, The Energy Errand) There are 30 cards. If there are less than 30 students in your classroom, one or more students may need to have more than one card. If you have more than 30 students, one or two students could partner with another. Explain that they are going to build a cause-effect chain. Without speaking, students will assemble themselves in a human chain illustrating the proper cause-effect order. One way this can be done is for the teacher to take the first card in the Energy Errand story and read it aloud to the class. The person can then come up who thinks his/her card fits next. This second card is then read to the class. The process continues until all students have been placed in the story. Another alternative is to break students into groups of 4 students, providing each group with a complete set of the cards. Each group can then be asked to organize the story. Ask student groups to compare their final versions of the story. The complete story is provided in Appendix C.
After the human chain is complete, have students do a simplified version of the entire story. This will help to check their understanding of cause-effect relationships. The beginning may sound like this:
Students will now construct their own cause-effect chain "stories" on an energy theme. Ask students to write one story that seems a bit farfetched, like the one shown in the first example below, and one that directly reflects some of the energy related issues of our time. The following is one example.
Cutting Energy Consumption Can Improve Grades!
Here is a more serious example:
No More Landfills is Good News
Extensions:
These chains can easily be made into 3-dimensional chains or mobiles that can be displayed in the classroom.
Home/Community Connection:
Students could do a "personalized" energy chain for their family/community
members aimed at convincing them of the benefits of reducing energy use. Here is an example:
Saving Energy Leads to a Happier Family
Teacher Notes
Objective:
Students will use concept mapping to better understand how to write a topic
sentence and to help identify supporting details in cause-effects relationships.
Materials:
paper
pencil/pen
Teaching Strategies:
One step to writing concise cause-effect paragraphs is the development of a good topic sentence and supporting details. Concept mapping is an ideal approach to organizing topic sentences and adding supporting details.
Concept mapping involves writing the main idea down, and linking supporting details to this main idea. True concept mapping shows how individual ideas are connected to the main idea. A concept map can look as intricately woven as a fine spider web. For the purposes of this activity, students need not get too complicated. They can merely tie the supporting details (effects) to the main idea (cause). If your students are already familiar with the basic principals of concept mapping, you may want to alter this activity to incorporate those ideas with which your students are already familiar.
Students are likely to need additional instruction when it comes time to rewrite their paragraphs. You may find that many of the paragraphs are disjoint, containing a list of the supporting details (effects) with no attempt to link the ideas together. For this reason students are instructed to rewrite their paragraphs in an effort to make them more interesting and to better link together the ideas in the paragraph. Several suggestions for making the paragraphs more interesting are provided on the student page. You may need to provide additional instruction on how to better link the ideas within the paragraph.
Home/Community Connections:
Ask students to find a fluorescent light bulb box. If they don't have one at
home, they can gather data while at the store. Challenge them to prepare a cause-effect diagram of the information included on the label. Use the cause: "Fluorescent light bulbs are more environmentally sound to use than are
incandescent light bulbs."
Challenge students to design a poster aimed at getting people to save energy. Use cause-effect relationships in the poster to help communicate why someone would want to save energy. Ask several area businesses if some of the posters could be displayed in their store windows or waiting areas. Perhaps your local utilities would be willing to reprint some of the posters as part of their monthly newsletters.
Extensions:
Challenge students to locate advertisements for energy efficient items (e.g., cars, homes, lighting, containers). Prepare a diagram of the cause-effect
information included in the advertisements. Can students find any information which they believe is misleading?
Student Page
Problem:
How can you use concept mapping to better understand how to write a topic sentence and to help identify supporting details in cause-effect
relationships?
Materials:
paper
pencil/pen
Let's Investigate:
Before you begin writing anything, whether it be a report, a short story, or an
answer to an essay question on a test, it is always a good idea to organize your thinking. A very useful way to organize your thoughts is with a diagram. For cause-effect relationships, it can be done like this:
Write as many effects as you can think of for each of the causes listed below. Try to list at least four or five effects for each cause.
CAUSE
If we had to live without our car for one week . . .
EFFECT
CAUSE
Our class is organizing an energy use study for our school . . .
EFFECT
CAUSE
Fossil fuels will not be available for us to use in the future . . .
EFFECT
CAUSE
To decrease peak demand for electricity, homes must cut in half the amount of electricity they use between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. . . .
EFFECT
Choose one of the completed cause-effect maps above to write about. Write one paragraph which includes the cause and effects listed on your diagram. The cause should be your topic sentence and should state the main idea of the paragraph. It is usually, but not always, the first sentence of a paragraph. The effects are called the supporting details of your paragraph. Be sure to include in your paragraph all of the ideas listed in your map. Write your paragraph on a separate sheet of paper.
It is a real talent to be able to take ideas and link them together in an interesting way. Your first draft of the energy paragraph may seem a bit "dry" when you reread it. It may also seem to contain many ideas that don't flow smoothly from one thought to another. Take another stab at rewriting your paragraph. This time, come up with a way to make it more interesting. Here are some things you may want to consider in trying to "spice up" your writing.
Spicing Up Your Writing
Teacher Notes
Objective:
Students will write cause/effect paragraphs dealing with the topic of reducing energy use.
Materials:
paper
pencil/pen
Teaching Strategies:
Discuss with students what it means when you explain WHY something happens.
This means you are explaining its cause. When you explain WHAT HAPPENS AS A RESULT OF SOMETHING, you explain its effects.
When cause and effect are written about in a paragraph, the paragraph should be arranged in one of two ways:
1. You can begin with the cause and then explain its effects.
2. You can begin with the effect and then explain the causes.
The following passage provides an example which begins with the cause and then describes its effects.
Cause Then Effect
I was so angry with my older brother John! We decided as a family that we would cut back on our energy consumption, but he wasn't cooperating! So I decided to
do something about it. I made posters that read "SAVE ENERGY TODAY SO WE'LL HAVE SOME TOMORROW," and I hung them all over his room. I unplugged everything in his room. Yes, everything (even his water bed heater). I then taped notes to each electrical cord reminding him that a kilowatt saved is a kilowatt not burned. Finally, I made picket signs that read "JOHN F. DOES NOT CARE ABOUT
YOUR FUTURE" and put them up all over the neighborhood. It was a pretty good day's work.
The paragraph below gives the effect and then the causes.
Effect Then Causes
We are running out of fossil fuels. One reason this is happening is that many of our natural resources can not be replenished. They will eventually be used
up. In addition, inexpensive and easy access to energy has led to the rapid industrialization of our world. This has created many serious pollution problems. Finally, because we keep demanding more and more electricity, we've had to build additional power plants. Some of these are powered by nuclear
power. The world has not solved the serious problem of what to do with nuclear waste. This creates another serious threat to a safe and healthy future.
Inform students that they will be writing a cause/effect paragraph on the topic "What if you had to cut your energy consumption in half?" Instruct students to follow the format suggested below: prewriting, first draft, revise, proofread, and publish.
PREWRITING: Have students diagram their topic (which will be the cause) and the possible effects. This is the process students learned in the previous activity. An example of the types of things students may include is provided below. Rather than showing this diagram to students, you may want to develop a class list of ideas on the chalkboard. Do this only if students are having difficulty coming up with their own ideas.
FIRST DRAFT:
After this prewriting exercise, have students write their first drafts. Remind students to write a strong topic sentence and support it with details. Remind
them not to worry about mistakes, just get their ideas down as quickly as possible.
REVISE:
Ask students to read their paragraphs and answer these questions.
Ask Yourself These Questions About Your Paragraph
MAKE CHANGES:
Direct students to make changes in their first drafts. They should then read
their paragraphs to another person for suggestions. They should think about their partners' comments and make changes.
PROOFREAD:
Ask students to read their paragraphs looking for mistakes in spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation.
PUBLISH:
Have students neatly copy their revised and proofread paragraphs or enter them on the computer. Ask them to add titles that will interest their audience.
Read over stories to be sure that nothing has been forgotten or any copying errors have been made.
Home/Community Connection:
Encourage students to attend a city council meeting. Ask students to note all of the decisions made at the meeting. Also note all of the predicted effects of the decisions that were discussed at the meeting. If no effects were discussed, make predictions of your own. An alternative would be to play a 10-15 minute
video segment of a council meeting. Other interesting meetings that might have an energy use tie include your local Zoning Board, Landfill Association, County Conservation Board, Soil Service, and Utilities Board.
In your journal, keep a cause/effect list of your energy uses in one day.
Extensions:
The Energy Patrol: The government has ordered everyone to cut energy consumption in half. You must comply with the new rules. And to make sure you do, the Energy Patrol is watching.
* How is the Patrol watching you? Be specific.
* How will you cut energy consumption?
* What happens to those who don't cut their energy use?
Encourage students to write their own stories using story starter cards.
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