Causation Instructional Strategy
Cause and Consequence
Cause is what makes "things" happen and usually, there is more than one cause. These causes have varying degrees of importance. And there can be unintended causes and consequences of an event.
Some common misconceptions about causation include: events have one direct cause, the most important cause is the one closest in time and space, and most causes are intentional human actions.
Causes of the event
A. Short Term- From one instant to a lifetime
B. Intermediate term - From a few years to a few hundred years
C. Long term - From a hundred years to all time
Role
Primary/Contributing
Secondary/Underlying
Triggering Event
Significant- Necessary and/or Important
Type
($) Economic
(P) Political
(E) Environmental
(C) Cultural
(I) ideas/beliefs
(T) Technological
Alphonse the Camel
Read the story and complete the Causation worksheet. Then discuss using the fishbowl strategy.
Alphonse the Camel
Once upon a time, there was a camel (called Alphonse). For various reasons (relating to an unfortunate accident during his birth) the camel had severe back problems. This was not the end of his misfortune, however, because he also had an evil, exploitative owner (called Frank the Camel Killer)Alphonse the Camel. Frank had hated camels ever since he experienced a nasty incident in his childhood involving a camel’s hoof and his rear end. He was very bitter and hadn’t trusted camels since.
Frank regularly overloaded his camels prior to taking them on grueling and totally unnecessary round trips up and down mountains on his way to deliver goods to his customers. These customers, shockingly, were completely indifferent to these frequent and gross violations of the rights of camels and even found Frank and his antics vaguely endearing. On top of it all, Alphonse was sometimes his own worst enemy. Camels are very proud creatures, and he would act tough in front of his camel friends, and on his rare breaks he would show off how much he could carry.
Plenty of camels had died doing similar work to Alphonse and his friends. After a particularly nasty few weeks when camels were keeling over left, right, and center, the camels decided to form a union to defend their rights and protect them from evil owners. However, when it comes down to it, camels are selfish creatures who don’t trust each other. They were more worried about looking after themselves than about working together, and the union soon fizzled out.
One Friday, Frank had just finished loading up Alphonse and his poor exploited fellow creatures for yet another grueling and totally unnecessary round trip up and down the mountains. He had piled and piled and piled up the goods onto Alphonse’s back and was taking a break, chewing a straw while thinking smugly about his handiwork. On a whim, he decided to add the bedraggled straw he had been chewing to Alphonse’s load. Alphonse groaned obligingly. He eyed his owner with disgust. He keeled over and died of radical and irreversible back collapse.
