Two things happening together doesn't mean one caused the other — recognise the difference between correlation and causation before drawing conclusions
How to tell they’ve got it
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If your child noticed that children who eat breakfast tend to do better at school, would they understand that breakfast might not be the cause — there could be another reason both things are true?
Where this sits on the map
Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.
Builds on
Could there be another explanation?ages 7–9Recognising that correlation is not causation requires the habit of generating alternative explanations — the correlation/causation distinction is a specific case of asking 'is there another explanation?'
Describing Rules & Patternsages 8–9Evaluating whether a pattern is truly causal requires the universal generalisation habit — asking whether the rule you think you've spotted actually holds across cases
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Correlation vs Causationthis skill · ages 8–10
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Unlocks
Science Can Be Revisedages 9–11Understanding that scientific knowledge is provisional requires seeing concrete examples of how apparent patterns and causal claims get revised — the correlation/causation distinction is one key mechanism
Evidence Supporting Ideasages 9–11Evaluating the strength of scientific evidence requires recognising when apparent correlations might not be causal — a key dimension of evidence quality
solid = must come firstdashed = helps
Curriculum alignment
Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).
This skill sits outside the F–6 Australian Curriculum — no candidate code matched (v0.1). No NSW K–6 outcome code matched (v0.1). No Victorian Curriculum 2.0 code matched (v0.1).