Turn recognized terminology into connected understanding.
Each important concept should cover:
- Level
- One-sentence definition
- Simple mental model
- Why it exists
- How it works
- Example
- Relationships
- Common mistakes
- Debugging or application
- Future advanced hooks
- connect new ideas to what the learner already knows
- explain why before implementation details
- use realistic examples
- distinguish similar concepts
- include failure modes
- keep advanced material optional
Checkpoints should test recall and explanation.
They are not realistic practice cases.
Use them to confirm conceptual understanding before realistic practice.
Move to Stage 3 when the learner can:
- explain the core system in their own words
- connect the important components
- recognize common failure categories
- propose basic implementation or debugging steps