My lesson plan would be based on the troika consulting idea found on Liberating Structures (http://www.liberatingstructures.com/).  Appropriately, the question would be about America during the Cold War and would be in the context of whether or not a war can truly be cold. I would ask students whether or not they thought the name is accurate or not, why, and what it might be better described as. For a minute or two, the first student would share their thoughts on the issue. Then the other two members would have a chance to ask questions for another minute or two. After this, the group would “rotate” and another student would present their ideas followed by questions and so on for the third student. Finally, we would come back into a class discussion and each group would present what they talked about.
I think that this model would be useful because it allows students to collaborate without the chaos or stress that talking in front of a large class can cause and without the possibility of domination in the discussion in a smaller class. Additionally, by having “group representatives,” more students are able to voice their opinions in a short time frame.