Designing the breakdown project -- A different approach to education
The breakdown project approach always asks "Where do I start?"
A breakdown project has a specific topic. That topic can be broad or narrow. Take Math for example. A broad project is calculus. A narrower project is differential calculus. An even narrower project is some element of differential calculus.
The concept behind breakdown is that learning is cumulative. You start with what you know. Each step in a breakdown must provide linkage to 'easier' concepts. You aren't born able to ride a bicycle. First you crawl, then you walk, then you stand on one foot.
Breakdown projects always provide links to explain the 'why' and 'how' of whatever the topic is.
If you jump in too deep, sometimes you find out that to understand A, you need to know B, but to understand B you need to know C, but to understand C, you need to know D...
Other times you are in way over your head. To understand A, you need to know B and C and D, but to understand B, you need to know E and F and G, and to understand C, you need to know H and I and J ...
Breakdowns should include some way for the learner to assess if they are starting at the right place, or need to get down to more basics. Simple examples at each level should be available. Each project has a section "You are at the right level if you understand this": followed by an example, and with links to learn the missing pieces.
Links stay inside the breakdown system. References to material outside the system are ok, but they are not a substitute for applying the structure to the system.
Each project must include many walk-through examples, explaining nuances and the reasons for different results for what on the surface appears to be the same.
The target audience is always someone who doesn't know this stuff yet. You are not writing for peers, but for students.
You should try to fit your breakdown project into the larger project tree. Avoid circularity (concept A depends on B, B depends on C, C depends on A). The system will maintain a database for project leaders to access to show related topics, whether or not fleshed out yet). Stuff like 'you need to know this in order to understand that' goes into the database as 'higher level links'