How we learn
Learning grows step by step: every step changes the learner — how much they can take in at once, how much new material they can handle, how much help they need. So the next lesson cannot be fixed in advance; it has to fit who you are now. Method
The six-step rationale cycle
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| See | Watch the stroke order, take the components apart, find their place in the nine squares |
| Read | Read the common reading: dictionary meanings and ancient forms |
| Grasp | Guess why it is written so, then see the design reading |
| Check | Compare two characters with the same parts (like 田 and 由) and find the difference |
| Work out | Explain the meaning of an unseen character whose parts you know, and why |
| Use | Pair words and order them into sentences |
How the study companion plans each lesson
- New and old are balanced for you. About a fifth of a lesson is new — but “new” is counted against the components you already know: a new character made entirely of familiar parts counts as only a little new material.
- Review follows components. What comes up for review is the components and families you are about to forget; review asks you to use old knowledge on a new character.
- After a key step, the steps get bigger. Once you start working characters out from their parts (seeing that characters with 氵 have to do with water), the companion gives more at a time and fewer hints.
- Choices pass to you over time. The better you can judge how well you are doing, the more you choose your own next lesson; being able to plan your own learning is the sign of having learned.
These practices follow the Institute's framework for a generative learning agent. Numbers such as one-fifth new material are starting settings adjusted to each learner's data, not proven optimums. The research behind them includes the spacing effect, the expertise-reversal effect and knowledge space theory.
What we will not do
- No streaks, leaderboards or random rewards to keep you on the app;
- No scores for spirit, interests or character — family and teachers record these in words;
- No AI posing as an authority: what the AI says is marked as reviewed or not.
Your learning record is yours
Your learning record keeps how you got to where you are. It belongs to you (or, for a minor, the guardian); you can export it and delete it. Planned