[curriculum-eval] 04-github-actions-intro.md: cognitive_load — 28 new concepts in a 756-word refresher

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
79/100
Issue type
Documentation
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
github-actions, javascript, yaml
Domain
content, documentation

Research direction

Start with workshop/04-github-actions-intro.md and review its Quick Refresher, the sample workflow activity, and the checkpoint. Compare the concepts introduced against the issue’s 15 concept target, and consult workshop/side-quest-05-01-actions-power-user.md for details proposed for moving. Done when the refresher is limited to on/jobs/steps, the activity follows it, and the checkpoint has at least four verifiable items.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

curriculum documentation quality

File: workshop/04-github-actions-intro.md
Overall Score: 5.4 / 10.0 (corpus mean: 6.1)

Flagged Dimensions:

Dimension Score Benchmark Delta
cognitive_load 6.8 (756 words, 28 concepts) ≤ 15 concepts -3.2
active_learning 3.9 density ≥ 3 → 10 -6.1

Root Cause (≤ 2 sentences):
The step introduces trigger, job, runner, action, step, on, jobs, steps, etc. plus a bridge to agentic workflows — nearly double the concept budget. This is a core-path lesson where learners are least equipped to chunk the vocabulary.

Evidence (quoted from the file):

A GitHub Actions workflow is a YAML file in .github/workflows/ that tells GitHub: when to run (on), what to run (jobs), how each job executes (steps)

Learning Science Rationale:
Miller/Sweller limits on working memory predict that introducing ~28 elements in one step overloads novices; Mayer's segmenting principle suggests presenting vocabulary in smaller chunks tied to an immediate activity, so each term is anchored by use before the next arrives.

Improvement Prompt (for an agent):

Edit workshop/04-github-actions-intro.md: reduce new concepts to ≤ 15 by limiting the "Quick Refresher" to on/jobs/steps and moving runner/action/matrix-style detail to a link or side quest (workshop/side-quest-05-01-actions-power-user.md). Place the "Label a sample workflow" activity directly after the refresher. Keep the ":white_check_mark: Checkpoint" with ≥ 4 verifiable items, keep headings unnumbered, and run npx --yes markdownlint-cli2 "**/*.md".

Expected Score After Fix: 6.5 / 10.0 (before scorer fix)

Generated by 🔬 Curriculum Quality Evaluator · copilot · auto · ~39 AIC · ⌖ ~1 AIC · ⊞ 5K · ◷

  • expires on Nov 10, 2026, 4:04 AM UTC
Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
58
Forks
40
Avg merge
1d 22h
Merged PRs (30d)
7

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