Procedure

1. Present learners with a question that allows them to create a claim. The claim will answer the question and will usually be one sentence.

2. Then learners will look for evidence to support their claim in materials and online research provided. The more relevant the evidence, the better the claim will be supported.

3. Learners will write their own personal reasoning, which acts as a conclusion, providing explanations for why the data they chose or heard counts as evidence and supports their claim. This should be a few sentences in length.

4. Next, separate students into groups based on their claim.

5. Remind learners of classroom norms/rules the students should maintain while in a debate.

6. Each group will take turns defending their claim (testing).

7. After 3-5 rounds of discussion ask if any student wants to switch to another group. (You may find some that want to stand in the middle)

8. Give each group 30 seconds to decide a final argument for their claim and choose a spokesperson.

9. Have each group have one spokesperson to share their final argument.

10. Have learners to revise(improve) their reasoning if need be.

11. ELA variation: Learners look at a persuasive text (science journal article, newspaper column, etc.). They annotate the article by labeling the author's claim, evidence, and reasoning; then complete steps 4-10. Learners could also write the claim, evidence, and reasoning on a large paper to allow their classmates to see if they all gathered the same components or if there were different perspectives.