The Ripple Effect Activity (also called a Consequence Wheel) demonstrates a graphic model of cause and effect. I have used this for both behavioral and academic concerns with students of all ages. With primary students I keep the Wheel smaller with only one or two consequences, but with older students including graduate students the Wheel has sometimes extended to 8-10 circles. You can make your Wheel go out as far as you wish and be as large as your space allows. For classrooms, you could make a very large extended Wheel upon a wall and have students keep adding consequences outward. I have also created individual Wheels on sheets of paper for students to work on a personal level.

Here's how it works:

1. Write an event or question or happening in the center circle.
2. In the 5 spaces immediately encircling the center (see illustration on p.2) write five separate direct consequences of this event or issues that arise from the question.
3. Take each of these 5 direct consequences separately and write at least two things that might (or did or will) happen because of this direct consequence. This is illustrated in the figure on page 2 by showing consequences 1.1 and 1.2 that arise from direct effect 1.
4. These two effects or consequences will their own ripple effects in turn. These are noted as 1.1a and 1.1b for 1.1 and 1.2a and 1.2b for 1.2.
5. The cycle of cause and effect, the ripple, continues outward as far as you wish to go.
6. If the effects of a central action are primarily negative, at least one ripple should represent possible positive consequences and vice versa.

Here is an illustration:
Suppose we put a single behavioral event in the center, e.g. Joe hit Mary outside their classroom. The direct consequences of this may be: 1) Mary cries; 2) Joe hurts his hand; 3) Joe feels better about what Mary said; 4) Mary drops her jacket; 5) Joe drops his books. We can now take each direct effect and show how they have their own set of consequences. In #1 two effects might be 1.1) a teacher hears Mary crying and 1.2) Mary's friend hits Joe. At this point you can either keep going around the circle of events adding consequence layers OR you can keep going out one extended ripple. Going outward, 1.1 results in 1.1a) teacher puts Joe in detention and 1.1b) teacher calls Joe's parents. 1.2 results in 1.2a) Joe cries and 1.2b) Joe gets a bloody nose. And so on and so on.

The circles can be used for historical events or hypothetical questions as well. In the center might be hypothetical questions: What if the moon exploded? What if Quebec seceded from Canada? In the center might be historical or literary questions: What if the Russians did not sell Alaska to the U.S.? What happened when the American colonies defeated the British in the 18th century? What happened when Harry Potter discovered he was a wizard? What is the consequence of the chemical reaction xxxx (choose a formula or a biological process)?

As you can see the Ripple Effect is very flexible and diverse.