Thinking Routines / Tug of War
Tug of War
A rope with a side at each end. Every reason gets pulled towards the side it supports, and the stronger the pull the further out it goes — so the class has to rank, not just list.
Opens on the whiteboard to model with the class · no sign-up · printing is optional
The sheet it prints — optional
What is the Tug of War thinking routine?
Tug of War is a thinking routine for dilemmas. Two opposing positions sit at the ends of a rope, and every reason the class offers is placed along it — on the side it supports, and as far out as its strength deserves. Position is the judgement.
How do you run Tug of War with a class?
Name the two sides first and make them genuinely opposed. Take reasons one at a time, and for each one ask the class where it goes and how far out. Finish with the what-if questions above the rope. Twenty minutes, and the arguing is the point.
What makes a good dilemma for Tug of War?
One where a sensible person could land on either side. 'Should we be kind?' is not a dilemma. 'Should the class lose golden time because two people were fighting?' is: there is a real cost whichever way you go, and children have skin in it.
The moment it comes alive is when somebody wants to move a card that is already placed. I used to treat that as a distraction and I now stop everything for it — 'why does it belong further out than that?' is the best question in the routine and it only ever comes from the children. It also means you should resist tidying the board yourself. A messy rope that the class argued over beats a neat one you arranged.
Which subjects does Tug of War suit?
Anywhere there is a genuine cost on both sides.
- PSHE — fairness dilemmas from your own classroom.
- History — whether a decision was justified at the time.
- Geography — development against conservation, tourism against local life.
- Literature — whether a character was right to do what they did.
What usually goes wrong with Tug of War?
Two sides that are not really opposed — a sensible position against a silly one. If everything ends up at one end of the rope, the dilemma was not a dilemma, and no amount of good discussion will rescue it.
Which year groups is Tug of War for?
Tug of War suits Year 3 upwards, grade 2 in the US. Younger children can place reasons on a side but not judge distance, so run it as two piles at first. From Year 5 the distance argument is where the best thinking happens.
What do you do with it afterwards?
Photograph the rope. It is a record of what the class thought was strong, and re-running the same dilemma at the end of a unit shows whether new knowledge moved anything. It also feeds straight into a balanced-argument piece of writing, which is otherwise hard to plan.
How often should you use Tug of War?
Once or twice a half term. Finding a dilemma with a real cost on both sides is the limiting factor, not the time — and a weak dilemma teaches nothing, so it is better to wait for a good one.
| Year group | US grade | What to change | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years 3–4 | Grades 2–3 | Two sides, two piles. No distance yet. | 12 min |
| Years 5–6 | Grades 4–5 | Full rope. Insist on a reason for every placement. | 20 min |
| Year 7 and up | Grade 6+ | Add the what-if questions and re-place anything they move. | 30 min |
Tug of War compared with Compass Points
Both weigh an idea. Compass Points looks at one proposal from four angles. Tug of War sets two positions against each other and makes a class rank the reasons. Use Tug of War when there are genuinely two sides rather than one idea to examine.
Free · no sign-up to run it · printing is optional
Where this routine comes from: the Tug of War thinking routine was developed by Project Zero, a research center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Sage Teachers is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Harvard University or Project Zero. The prompts and the wording on this page are our own.