Mitigating "Epistemic Debt" in Generative AI-Scaffolded Novice Programming using Metacognitive Scripts

ArXi:2602.20206v2 Announce Type: replace-cross The cratization of Large Language Models has given rise to vibe coding, where novice programmers prioritize semantic intent over syntactic implementation. Without pedagogical guardrails, we argue this is fundamentally misaligned with cognitive skill acquisition. Drawing on Kirschner's distinction between cognitive offloading and outsourcing, unrestricted AI encourages novices to outsource the intrinsic cognitive load required for schema formation rather than merely offloading extraneous load.