Fishbone Diagram

A fishbone diagram (also called an Ishikawa diagram) is a graphical organiser that allows learners to visually map the causes that lead to a particular effect. The effect sits at the "head" of the fish on the right. The central spine runs horizontally to the left. Major causes branch off the spine as diagonal bones, and each major cause can be broken down into smaller contributing factors.

The visual structure makes complex cause-and-effect relationships manageable. Instead of listing causes in a paragraph, learners can see how multiple factors connect and contribute to an outcome. This is especially useful when an effect has several categories of cause, each with sub-causes.

To use it, start with the effect and work backwards. Ask: "What caused this?" For each answer, ask again: "And what caused that?" This chain of questioning builds the diagram outward from the spine and develops increasingly sophisticated causal thinking.

Fishbone diagrams work particularly well in humanities and science, where understanding cause and effect is fundamental. They can also be used for problem-solving: put the problem at the head and brainstorm possible causes.

Fishbone diagrams develop the "Develop" strand of thinking skills, specifically thinking about cause and effect and making inferences. They build cross-curricular literacy through analytical writing about causation and are particularly powerful in Humanities and Science and Technology.

Rainbow Curriculum's Thinking Tools lens lets you map where cause-and-effect tools are used across your curriculum, ensuring learners build causal reasoning progressively from Year 3 to Year 9.