What is Socratic?
Socratic is an education app powered by artificial intelligence technology that aims to make learning more personalized, engaging, and effective. It uses a question-based methodology where students have to answer a series of questions that lead them to uncover new concepts and ideas on their own.
Here's how it works: Students can take a photo of a homework question or type it into the app. Socratic will then serve up explanations based on the student's responses, using scaffolding questions designed to diagnose knowledge gaps. If the student gets stuck, they can ask for hints to nudge them along. Bit by bit, Socratic walks students through concepts until that 'light bulb' moment.
This mastery-based, discovery-focused approach follows cognitive science on how we best acquire new knowledge and retain information long-term. Automated hints and explanations also reduce unproductive frustration. Overall, the goal is to empower students to teach themselves at their own pace.
Subjects covered include math (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics), chemistry, physics, biology, economics, history, English, and more. The content spans middle school through early college level. While Socratic supports solo learning, it can also be used alongside classroom teaching.
Socratic is free to use and available as a website and mobile app for iOS and Android devices. It was launched in 2015 by Chris Pedregal and Richard Werbe, who wanted to create a personalized learning tool driven by AI technology.