The method
How it works
Kalan follows a simple rule teachers know well: never hand over what the child can find. Here is what that looks like in practice.
The four stages of a session
1. We place the child, without marking them
A short adaptive test places the child on the official curriculum map for their year. No score is shown — only a starting point.
2. One topic at a time
Each session covers one competence. The exercise matches the tier reached: discovery, application, written problem, transfer.
3. Help rises when they get stuck
Kalan rephrases, breaks it down, recalls the rule, then works through a similar exercise. It steps back down as soon as the child moves again.
4. What is learnt comes back later
Mastered topics return at growing intervals. That is spaced review: what is revisited just before being forgotten, stays.
The mechanism
The help ladder
When a child gets stuck, Kalan climbs one rung. One only. Then it steps back down as soon as the child moves again. Here are all six, in order.
No rung contains the answer to the current exercise. That is enforced in code, not in tone: every release is tested against hundreds of attempts to get around it.
Encouragement“Say the first step out loud again.”
Prompting question“What exactly are you looking for?”
Breaking it down“Deal with the denominators first.”
The rule recalled, not applied.
A fully worked analogue — a different exercise.
A recap of the method, and the session closes.
On the record
A sample dialogue
i’m stuck on 1/2 + 1/3
Why do you think these two fractions don’t add up as easily as 1/5 + 2/5?
because the bottoms are different
Exactly. So what would be the first thing to do so the bottoms match?
i don’t know
Look for a number that 2 divides into exactly, and that 3 divides into exactly. Try naming one.
From a real session. The rest belongs to the child: they write the result, never the tutor.
Watch it refuse to give the answer
The demo is open, no account and no card needed. Ask it a pupil’s question, and try to get the result out of it.
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