Cause and Effect of Dams

Before: The teacher will ask students, “What do we mean when we talk about cause and effect?”

Allow think time. Here the students are silently thinking on their own for about 20 seconds. Next, the teacher will have students share with elbow partners, then call on 2 or 3 students to share their background knowledge of cause and effect.

The teacher will explain that cause is the reason that something happened. What happened is the effect.

We should look for keywords to help us find cause and effect. Some of the keywords are because, if, so, then, since, before, and after.

For example: The child had ice cream for dessert, so he was happy. The cause was “the child had ice cream”. The effect was “he was happy”.  

This next example shows that cause and effect are not always placed in order. “Because the child was given ice cream, she was happy.”

During:

Students will view the History Channel’s video, “Where Is Hoover Dam?" http://www.history.com/topics/hoover-dam. This video will give students a visual and background knowledge prior to determining the cause and effects of dams.

The teacher should show the images on the following site. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/travelborwaterprojects/index.htm

The teacher will ask students to write the answer to the following question on a Post-it note, "Why do you think these dams were built?"

Next, the teacher will introduce the text, "Dam Creation". The teacher will explain that this text has several cause-and-effect relationships (purposes of dams [cause] and impact assessment of dams [effect]). The students will be given their own copy of the text.

The students will follow along as their teacher reads the first section. Next, the students will whisper read with the teacher as they again read the first section. Finally, students will be asked to highlight the causes and effects they have found in this section of the text.

Students will then be asked to share their findings with their elbow partner. The teacher will call on a student to give an example of cause and effect found in the text. Students should look for cause-and-effect keywords. 

The teacher will introduce the cause-and-effect graphic organizer. The teacher will model completing the first section in the graphic organizer. Cause: Beavers build dams using sticks and mud. Effect: Water pools behind the sticks and mud resulting in a new pond being built.

Next, the teacher will ask, “Since in deep water there is more water piled up. What is the effect?”

Students will then practice completing the cause-and-effect graphic organizer, with their previous elbow partner. The teacher will walk around the classroom to observe and check for understanding of how to determine cause and effect, and the teacher will determine if the students can connect causes to effects. 

After: The class will play the Kahoot game on class computers or tablets. The class will compete in groups. Groups should be made of 2-3 team members. They will play a cause-and-effect game where they will identify causes and effects. https://create.kahoot.it/#public/kahoots?filter=1&tags=cause%20and%20effect