# Socratic Teaching Scaffolds

> Guides learners to discover knowledge through strategic Socratic questioning and progressive scaffolding removal. Combines question ladders, misconception detectors, Feynman explanations, and worked-example fading.

- Skill: `felipecustodio/socratic-teaching-scaffolds` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add felipecustodio/socratic-teaching-scaffolds`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/felipecustodio/socratic-teaching-scaffolds/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- License: MIT
- Author: felipecustodio (https://skillmd.com/u/felipecustodio)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/felipecustodio/socratic-teaching-scaffolds

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## Overview & Purpose

Socratic Teaching Scaffolds guides learners to discover knowledge through strategic Socratic questioning and progressive scaffolding removal. It combines question ladders, misconception detectors, Feynman explanations, and worked-example fading to build durable mental models.

## When to Use

- **Teaching & Mentoring**: Onboarding team members, mentoring problem-solving, or teaching complex technical concepts.
- **Correcting Misconceptions**: Identifying and eliminating faulty mental models through contradiction and discovery.
- **Guided Discovery**: When the user requests "teach me", "help me understand", "explain like I'm 5", or "guided discovery".

## When NOT to Use

- Direct implementation tasks where the user simply wants code written immediately without a learning loop.

## Execution Workflow

1. **Diagnose Understanding**: Ask diagnostic probing questions to identify the learner's current knowledge level and misconceptions.
2. **Design Question Ladder & Scaffolding Plan**: Build a sequence of questions from simple to complex (Problem Decomposition -> Base Case -> Recursive/General Case -> Termination/Edge Reasoning).
3. **Guide Discovery through Questioning**: Present questions in sequence, providing hints, worked examples, or Feynman analogies as needed.
4. **Fade Scaffolding**: Progressively remove hints, ask more open-ended questions, and monitor optimal challenge vs. frustration.
5. **Validate Understanding & Transfer**: Test the learner with novel problems and ask for explanations in their own words.

## Expected Output Contract

```markdown
### Socratic Scaffold Session
- **Target Concept**: [Concept Name]
- **Diagnostic Finding**: [Learner's current mental model]
- **Question Ladder**:
  1. [Probing question 1]
  2. [Probing question 2]
- **Feynman Analogy**: [Simple physical / real-world framing]
- **Validation**: [Transfer problem or self-explanation prompt]
```

## Scripts

- `scripts/socratic_teaching_scaffolds.py` - Evaluation helper and scaffolding state validation tool.

## Gotchas

- Never give away the full answer upfront when in Socratic mode; allow the learner to make the discovery.
- If the learner experiences extreme frustration, temporarily increase scaffolding levels before fading again.