Mr. Brown has gathered evidence that the weight of grade school students correlates positively with their reading skill. Before he uses this evidence to conclude that body weight enhances reading ability, Mr. Brown should first be reminded that:

She should be reminded that correlation is NOT the same as causation.

Explanation:

Correlation simply means that two variables in a study are related. For example, a news article named "Cigarette smoking increases risk of lung cancer" is likely based on a correlational study. However, this does not mean that smoking is the only, direct cause of cancer, as there might be other factors which influence the outcome.

In the example, the weight of the students might be related to their reading skills, but there might be other factors that also contribute to the results, and it would be inappropriate to assume the weight is the cause of the improved reading skills.

answer; permissive;