Visible Thinking Routine
Claim–Support–Question.
Make a claim, support it, then question it.
Argument pattern
reason
interpret
wonder
What is it
What is Claim–Support–Question?
Reasoning routine. Builds the habit of testing one's own claims.
Setup: What's the topic or issue under investigation?.
How it works
The prompts
-
01
CLAIM — your interpretation
Response: Longtext · bucket: claim
-
02
SUPPORT — evidence and reasons
Response: Longtext · bucket: support
-
03
QUESTION — what could undermine your claim?
Response: Longtext · bucket: question
When to use
Good moments for Claim–Support–Question
- Classroom warm-up. Surface what students bring before introducing new content.
- After a reading or video. Consolidate big ideas without testing recall.
- Discussion starter. Responses become the seed material for the room conversation.
- End-of-session reflection. Capture how thinking changed.
Keep exploring
Other thinking routines
Browse all 21 routines in the gallery, filtered by the kind of thinking you want to surface — observation, perspective-taking, reasoning with evidence, or capturing the heart of an idea.