Start with the answer, not the question

"Solve this" divides the room into students who can start and students who freeze. "Here's the answer. What happened in the middle?" gives every student a foothold: the destination is known, so all thinking is about the route. This is the worked-example effect in action. For novices, studying solutions produces more learning per unit of effort than unsupported problem-solving (Sweller & Cooper, 1985).

In practice

• Show a completed solution, essay conclusion, or experiment result. Ask pairs: "Reconstruct the steps. What must have happened first?"
• Or show answer and question, hide the middle: "There are three steps between these. Name them."
• Ask "where could this have gone wrong?" once the route is reconstructed. You've smuggled error-analysis into an accessible task.
• Great for mixed-attainment rooms: the entry point is observation, not recall, but the ceiling (justify every step) is high.