Module 2 Instructor Notes

Module 2 Instructor Notes#

Teaching Goal#

Students should understand search as a general framework for intelligence, not just a technical trick for toy problems.

Misconceptions to Watch For#

  • assuming search is irrelevant in the era of machine learning

  • treating heuristics as arbitrary guesses rather than structured estimates

  • overlooking the importance of representation

Facilitation Notes#

  • Use a map, a game, and a scheduling example to show transfer across domains.

  • Ask students what gets lost when a problem representation is oversimplified.

  • Connect search to planning and optimization before later machine learning modules appear.