LESSON: Reporting Causation

Breaking News: Correlation vs Causation in the News

Breaking News! Correlation and Causation are confused all the time in the news and media. Watch the video below to see examples of this. 

Assignment Example

In your upcoming assignment YOU will be a news anchor reporting a story where correlation and causation are to be confused. That's right. You will be reporting that there is causation between two variables even if there is only a correlation.

There are five different data sets that you can use to base your story on. You must choose one:

• Friends vs. Happiness
• Sharks vs. Ice Cream
• Studying vs. Grade
• Video Games vs. Violence
• Wind Mills vs. Wind Speed

In your news story you will try to convince your viewers that the correlation between the two variables in your data set is actually CAUSATION. To convince your viewers you will need to create a scatter plot, draw a regression line, calculate the correlation coefficient and use the regression equation. 

You will have more instructions for how to complete your assignment in the upcoming lessons, but for now, take a look at the following video. In this video, I used the Pirates vs. Global Warming data set to base my assignment and story on. (You cannot use this example for your assignment!)

ASSIGNMENT EXAMPLE:

Assignment Instructions

On the last lesson page you saw an example of what your final assignment will look like. Let's talk about the instructions for how to create your Breaking News video assignment.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Choose one data set to base your story on:

• Friends vs. Happiness
• Sharks vs. Ice Cream
• Studying vs. Grade
• Video Games vs. Violence
• Wind Mills vs. Wind Speed

2. Make a copy of this presentation template and fill in the information for your data set and your breaking news story.

3. Use Screencastify to record your voice while you present your breaking news story. More instructions for using Screencastify are on the next lesson page.

4. Watch the video below for further instructions:

ScreenCastify Instructions

We will be using Screencastify, an extension in your Google Chrome browser to record your Breaking News presentation. In the video below I will show you how to get started with Screencastify and how to use it to record your upcoming assignment.

Click here to view the written instructions for getting started with Screencastify. Or click the "Record a Screencast" button at the top of the page.

Watch the following video to learn how to:

• Install the Screencastify Extension on your computer (if you haven't done so already)
• Record your breaking news story
• Crop and Trim your breaking news story so only the slides show in your final video
• Find the link to your video to submit for your assignment

Grading Rubric

After you have viewed all of the pages in this lesson book for how to complete and submit your breaking news assignment, look over this grading rubric. Be sure you include each of the criterion listed below in your final Breaking News Report video presentation to earn full credit. If you have questions about any of the criterion listed, please contact me!