Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Prediction |
| Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. Deciphering causal relationships, and the mechanisms by which they are mediated, is a major activity of science and engineering. |
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MDMA/Water/Estrogen
In this modeling exercise, students explore interactions between ecstasy/water/estrogen and brain damage risk to learn about the cross-cutting concept “Cause and Effect”.
This modeling exercise leverages the MDMA (ecstasy)/Water/Estrogen interactions via hyponatremia which results in permanent brain damage in (mostly) young women if not caught early. (for an overview of this and associated data sets for students see Moritz, M. L., Kalantar-Zadeh, K., & Ayus, J. C. (2013). Ecstasy-associated hyponatremia: why are women at risk? Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 28(9), 2206-2209.) Begin by framing a situation where a young woman must be rushed to the ER and has symptoms of hyponatremia. Have students explore the symptoms of the women and provide scaffolding as students explore this. Once it is clear for students that it is brain damage due to excess water retention, ask students to model how this is happening at the cellular level. This would be done with students drawing cells under different conditions (normal, higher concentration of dissolved molecules inside of the cell, higher concentration of dissolved molecules outside of the cell). This would focus on students modeling diffusion and osmosis. Once completed, they would have to determine which scenario represents what happened to Jill and answer why. This modeling exercise includes not just one but several connected causes that result in a life-threatening effect. In this way it also lends itself to a more system view of cause and effect. |
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Suggested Modeling Elements: Cells: General; Biomolecules: Lipids; Organelles: Cell membrane; Organelles Suggested Sensemaking Components: Movement/Motion, Zoom in/out, Flow of Matter See an illustration of this exercise in a vignette |
