The cause of phenomena. An opportunity to learn science and exercise the imagination

Abstract

The beginning of a scientific research can be a question aimed at discovering the cause of a particular phenomenon, i.e., explaining the reason of it. These are often the toughest questions to answer, frequently leading to cases of correlation being mistaken for causation. This error results in students’ manifold alternative conceptions and foments numerous logical fallacies that often appear in the media. The analysis of cause-effect situations can be an effective tool in order to test these multiple conceptions, foster critical thinking in students, publicize a facet of scientific work, and at the same time, encourage the use of imagination. With this purpose in mind, this paper presents a series of activities to analyse cause-effect situations and proposes an everyday experience to work on control variables.