Cause and Effect

• Simple tests can be designed to gather evidence to support or refute student ideas about causes.
• Events have causes that generate observable patterns.
• Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified.
• Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change.
• Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change.
• Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural or designed systems.
• Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural systems.
• Phenomena may have more than one cause, and some cause and effect relationships in systems can only be described using probability.
• Relationships can be classified as causal or correlational, and correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
• Empirical evidence is required to differentiate between cause and correlation and make claims about specific causes and effects.
• Systems can be designed to cause a desired effect.
• Cause and effect relationships can be suggested and predicted for complex natural and human designed systems by examining what is known about smaller scale mechanisms within the system.