The teacher seeds, cultivates, and capitalizes on an emerging disagreement that reveals a potential problem with their current model to get students to focus on an important question that could extend their model. 

1. The teacher seeds a question or new phenomenon for the class to consider that is designed to elicit disagreement or competing explanations. 

2. Students going public with their ideas. 

3. Argue for competing ideas in trying to resolve the emerging controversy. 

4. Determine a way to resolve this question and Build Consensus.

Resolve the question and build consensus 

During this process, the class develops a physical representation of the ideas as we are putting them together; such as a diagrammatic model, a table showing commonalities across a series of cases, or a written explanation.

1.  Ask students to take stock of where the class has been and what they’ve figured out, offering conjectures or pieces of a model, explanation, or solution.

   • 1. 1. • What are some things we can say at this point about our anchoring phenomenon that are supported by evidence?

           • Could you clarify the link you are making between your explanation and the evidence?

           • Could someone restate our question (or our charge)? What are we building consensus about?

2. Ask students to offer proposals for a synthetic model, explanation, or solution

   • 1. 1. • How are these explanations similar? How are they different?

           • Both groups seem to be using the same term but in a different way, could someone explain the difference?

           • Could someone restate our question (or our charge)? What are we building consensus about?

3. Ask students to support or challenge proposals, and say what evidence is the basis for their support or critique

   • 1. 1. • Who feels like their idea is not quite represented here? 

           • Would anyone have put this point a different way? 

           • What ideas are we in agreement about?

           • Both groups seem to be using different language to explain the same idea, is that what you are hearing?

           • Are there still areas of confusion or discontent?

           • Are there still places where we disagree? Can we clarify these?

4. Ask students to propose a modification to the model based on input from the class

   • 1. 1. • How could we modify what we have so that we account for the evidence we agree is important to consider?

           • What modifications might you make to clarify any confusion or address the discontent the group feels?

           • Is there more evidence or clarification needed before we can come to agreement? What is that?