Assess students' understanding of insertion sort, merge sort, and quicksort by asking them to (a) describe how each algorithm operates at a pseudocode/step level, (b) state best/average/worst-case time complexities, space requirements, and stability/in-place properties, and (c) compare trade-offs and justify which algorithm is most appropriate for specific scenarios (small arrays, nearly sorted data, large random data, memory-constrained environments). Focus on conceptual reasoning and clear explanations rather than detailed code.