Correlation Versus Causation
The Lesson Activities will help you meet these educational goals:
· Mathematical Practices—You will construct viable arguments and analyze the reasoning of others.
· 21st Century Skills—You will use critical-thinking and problem-solving skills , assess and validate information, and communicate effectively.
Directions
You will evaluate some of these activities yourself, and your teacher may evaluate others. Please save this document before beginning the lesson and keep the document open for reference during the lesson. Type your answers directly in this document for all activities.
______
Self-Checked Activities
Read the instructions for the following activities and type in your responses. At the end of the lesson, click the link to open the Student Answer Sheet. Use the answers or sample responses to evaluate your own work.
1. Interpreting Statements
As a part of your training, your editor has asked you to analyze these news headlines:
1. Does your neighborhood cause schizophrenia?
2. Keeping a food diary doubles weight loss, study says
3. Mother’s diet can help determine the sex of child
4. TV raises blood pressure in obese kids
5. A surprising secret to long life: Stay in school
6. Chocolate really does make us feel better
7. Facebook users get worse grades in college
a. Identify the causal variable and the response variable in each statement. The first statement has been analyzed as an example.
Type your response here:
Causal Variable / Response Variable1. the neighborhood you live in / getting (or not getting) schizophrenia
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
b. List some of the categorical variables in the statements and the values they might take.
Type your response here:
c. List some of the possible quantitative variables in the statements and the units that can be used to measure them.
Type your response here:
How did you do? Check a box below.
Nailed It!—I included all of the same ideas as the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
Halfway There—I included most of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
Not Great—I did not include any of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
2. Analyzing and Evaluating Statements
In the second step in your training, your editor asks you to evaluate news articles so you can summarize and include them in your publication. Read these articles, and then answer the questions that follow:
· dogs and their behavior
· food allergies
a. List three relationships between pairs of variables in the article on dog behavior.
Type your response here:
b. Compare what the data in the article on dog behavior says and what the article seems to imply. If you can, propose an alternative reason to explain the results found in the study.
Type your response here:
c. Based on your analysis, write an alternative headline for the article on dog behavior. Remember, a headline should grab the reader’s attention without overstating the results.
Type your response here:
d. Identify the variables being related in the article about allergies.
Type your response here:
e. Discuss whether you think this statement from the article is justified: “Education is the cause of food allergies.”
Type your response here:
How did you do? Check a box below.
Nailed It!—I included all of the same ideas as the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
Halfway There—I included most of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
Not Great—I did not include any of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
3. Correlation Versus Causality
In this activity, you will read articles to be included in the “Research and Results” section of your magazine and then write your own headlines based on your analysis of the relationships between the variables involved. Read these articles, and then answer the questions that follow:
· foods and diabetes
· infants’ health and safety
a. In the diabetes article, what variables did the researchers try to control for in the study because they might affect the risk of diabetes?
Type your response here:
b. Does the story support the headline for the diabetes article? Why or why not?
Type your response here:
c. Write an alternative headline for the diabetes article.
Type your response here:
d. In the article on sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), what are some other variables that may have reduced the number of deaths?
Type your response here:
e. Does the story support the headline? Why or why not?
Type your response here:
f. Write an alternative headline for the second article.
Type your response here:
How did you do? Check a box below.
Nailed It!—I included all of the same ideas as the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
Halfway There—I included most of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
Not Great—I did not include any of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
1