My guess is CS1 is often the first time a student has been given a problem they have to actually reason about to solve (rather than follow a script). This is h

My guess is CS1 is often the first time a student has been given a problem they have to actually reason about to solve (rather than follow a script). This is hard to understand and adapt to and stresses out students that have been trained (for years) to learn the expected script. You eventually get to this level in math, but only way later in post graduate work (unless you’re exceptional). I think there’s likely a benefit in explicitly tackling this directly for young/new students, it might help them see the bigger picture. At least the earnest ones struggling to do well anyway.