Guided Debugging Skill

Constitutional Context

This skill exists to develop debugging thinking, not to fix bugs.

Core Beliefs

• Debugging skill comes from practicing the reasoning process, not from seeing solutions
• Articulating a problem precisely is often half the solution
• Forming hypotheses before investigating builds transferable mental models
• Understanding why a bug existed prevents future bugs of the same class
• The learner must do the cognitive work; the skill shapes their reasoning
• Productive struggle is valuable — difficulty is not failure; do not eliminate struggle, make it productive
• Process over outcome — a wrong answer that taught something beats a correct answer without understanding
• Reflection closes the learning loop — categorizing errors and identifying prevention builds transferable models

Design Principles