Recognizing Cause and Effect

Recognizing Cause and Effect

Critical Thinking Skills Practice: Informational Text Structures

Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect is an event or an action that brings about an effect. Remember that an event can have more than one cause and more than one effect. Also remember that an even is often both a cause and an effect.

An effect can become the cause of a future event causing a chain of cause and effect relationships.

Lets Practice....

This passage describes how deserts are created and enlarged. As your read, look for cause-and-effect relationships.....

Look for these things as you read

• What is the effect of dry air at latitudes 15 degrees north and south of the equator?

• What is the Effect of warm, moist air rising at the equator?

• What is the cause of air that flows down the inland slope of a mountain if it is dry?

Desert Creation and Expansion.

The dryness that causes deserts usually begins at the Equator where warm moisture rains over the tropics and drifts toward the poles. By the time the air reaches about latitudes 15 degrees north and south of the Equator, it begins to descend and warm up again, but it is too dry to form clouds and produce rain. This belt of dry air parches the earth, creating a series of deserts around the globe.

Open Ended

Cause: Warm, Moist air rises at the Equator

Effect: ?

Open Ended

Cause: Dry air at latitudes 15 degrees north and south of the Equator parches the earth..

Effect:_________________________

Coastal mountains also help to form deserts. When warm, moist ocean air moves inland, it is forced to rise over the mountains. As the air rises, it cools and releases its moisture as rain on the windward slopes of the mountain. By the time the air flows down the otherside of the mountain, it is too dry to produce any more rain.

Open Ended

Cause:______

Effect: The air that flows down the inland slope of a mountain is dry.

Through deserts are formed by natural conditions, people have contributed to their expansion. More than a third of the world's population depends on wood for heating and cooking. To meet this demand for firewood, people cut down trees and the dry grassland that rim the deserts. Once the trees are gone, the wind easily carries away the unprotected soil and the land becomes part of the desert.

Open Ended

Cause: People who live around deserts need firewood for cooking and heating.

Effect:_______

Animals such as sheep, goats, and cattle also contribute to expansion of desert areas. These animals rely on the grasslands around deserts for their food. However, there are too many animals for the grasses to support. Consequently, the animals overgraze, stripping the lands of their already sparse vegetation and helping to turn them into barren wastes.

Open Ended

Consequently, the animals overgraze, stripping the lands of their already sparse vegetation and helping to turn them into barren wastes.

Using context clues, what would you infer the words Sparse and Barren mean?

Open Ended

Cause: Animals overgraze the dry grasslands that rim the desert.

Effect:._______