Module 2: CS Fundamentals Overview: Mistake Clinic

This clinic turns wrong moves into reusable judgment. Use it after each practice page and again before the quiz or checkpoint.

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Module-Specific Mistake Radar

Start with these traps. Replace or extend them with real mistakes from your own work.

Mistake to look for	Where it shows up	Symptom	Repair evidence
Finishing Redraw the CS Map From Memory with only a final answer	Redraw the CS Map From Memory	The work has no failed case, trace, test, proof gap, or design stress point.	Add the smallest broken example and show the repair that changes the result.
Finishing Diagnose a Computing Approach with only a final answer	Diagnose a Computing Approach	The work has no failed case, trace, test, proof gap, or design stress point.	Add the smallest broken example and show the repair that changes the result.
Finishing Explain One Program Through the Stack with only a final answer	Explain One Program Through the Stack	The work has no failed case, trace, test, proof gap, or design stress point.	Add the smallest broken example and show the repair that changes the result.
Treating Computer Science Starts With Models as vocabulary instead of a tool	Computer Science Starts With Models	The explanation names the concept but cannot decide between two cases.	Write one example, one non-example, and the rule that separates them.
Treating Feasibility Is About Growth as vocabulary instead of a tool	Feasibility Is About Growth	The explanation names the concept but cannot decide between two cases.	Write one example, one non-example, and the rule that separates them.
Treating Strategy Beats Blind Search as vocabulary instead of a tool	Strategy Beats Blind Search	The explanation names the concept but cannot decide between two cases.	Write one example, one non-example, and the rule that separates them.

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Practice Mistake Checks

Pull any miss from these checks into your mistake log.

Redraw the CS Map From Memory

Source: practice/01-redraw-the-cs-map-from-memory.md

If your map is just a list of buzzwords with no arrows or relationships, it is too shallow. If you wrote "computer science = programming languages," your map is too narrow. If you cannot place memory or databases anywhere, the systems picture is incomplete.

Explain One Program Through the Stack

Source: practice/03-explain-one-program-through-the-stack.md

If your explanation jumps directly from "I run the file" to "the computer does it," you skipped the whole point of the exercise. If you describe the compiler and operating system as the same thing, your model is still blurry.

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Repair Protocol

For each real mistake:

1. Reproduce the failure on the smallest example, trace, proof, query, command, or design sketch.
2. Name the hidden assumption.
3. Repair the artifact.
4. Save evidence that changed: failing then passing test, corrected proof step, revised diagram, safer command, benchmark, or review note.
5. Add one retrieval card beginning with Check... before... or Do not use... when....

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Mistake Log

Date	Mistake	Symptom	Root cause	Repair evidence	Retrieval card
Starter	Pick one radar row above	Explain how it would fail in this module	Name the assumption	Add a counterexample or corrected artifact	Write the card before closing the page

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Completion Standard

• At least five real mistakes are logged.
• At least two mistakes include a counterexample or failing test.
• At least one mistake connects to an older semester skill.
• At least one correction changes code, a proof, a diagram, a command transcript, a query, or a design decision.