[curriculum-eval] 02a-setup-codespace.md: scaffolding — missing Prerequisites section on an 18-concept setup step

[github-actions]

File: workshop/02a-setup-codespace.md
Overall Score: 8.09 / 10.0 (corpus mean: 8.78)

Flagged Dimensions:

Dimension	Score	Benchmark	Delta
scaffolding	5.0 / 10	"Before You Start" or "Prerequisites" section present (10)	−5.0
cognitive_load	9.2 / 10	≤ 15 new concepts (10)	−0.8

Root Cause (≤ 2 sentences):
The step introduces 18 new concepts (Codespace, devcontainer, fork, extension, browser vs desktop, VS Code, terminal, GitHub CLI, token, and more) across 656 words, yet it has no "Before You Start" or "Prerequisites" section to anchor what the learner needs before attempting setup. Without a prerequisite gate, learners who arrive at this step without a GitHub account or the required permissions encounter confusing failures with no clear recovery path.

Evidence (quoted from the file):

(The file begins directly with "Set Up a Codespace" and moves immediately into instructions — no prerequisite section exists, confirmed by has_prereq_section: false in the metrics.)

Learning Science Rationale:
Ausubel's Advance Organizer theory predicts that learners who lack the prerequisite schema for a procedural step cannot integrate new information efficiently; they expend working memory on resolving missing background rather than learning the intended skill. A concise "Before You Start" list (3–5 bullets identifying what the learner must already have) reduces this extraneous load and cuts confusion-driven support requests on setup steps — which are the highest-friction point in any developer workshop.

Improvement Prompt (for an agent):

Edit workshop/02a-setup-codespace.md to add a scaffolding prerequisite section:
1. After the introductory paragraph (or the h1 title if there is no intro paragraph), add a ## Before You Start section (or use the emoji prefix matching the file's style: ## 📋 Before You Start).
2. Include at least 3 bullets covering what the learner needs before this step:
   - A GitHub account (free tier is sufficient)
   - The repository forked to their account (link to the fork step if one exists)
   - Permission to create Codespaces (note: org policies may restrict this; link to the troubleshooting side quest)
3. Keep it brief — 3 to 5 bullets maximum. Do not restate content already covered in earlier steps.
4. Do not add numbered headings. Run markdownlint after editing.

Expected Score After Fix: 8.7 / 10.0

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Generated by 🔬 Curriculum Quality Evaluator · 86 AIC · ⌖ 7.39 AIC · ⊞ 6.2K · ◷

• expires on Jul 26, 2026, 4:39 AM UTC