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Show HN: A Socratic teaching tool that follows curiosity, not curriculum

10•nic_seo•4mo ago
As a student, I was trained to play the formal education game—flashcards, diagrams, fastidiously organized notes. But as a 32-year-old, I’m disappointed by the knowledge and understanding I’ve retained over time. And without the familiar game of formal education to play, I’m often at a loss for how to learn new topics that are interesting but intimidating to me.

AI has the potential to change the way people learn, and existing tools show promise. But I’m still dissatisfied—these tools often dump knowledge on me without helping me integrate it into my understanding.

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I built Stella to explore how thoughtful UX can transform AI interactions into genuine learning experiences. Instead of optimizing for information delivery, Stella optimizes for learning through curiosity.

Some key design decisions that emerged from testing:

1. Separated thinking spaces: Most AI chats blur the line between user and AI thoughts. Stella's chat interface creates distinct spaces for communication, encouraging users to reflect on their own thinking before engaging with AI responses.

2. Socratic dialogue patterns: Rather than just delivering answers, Stella guides users to discover knowledge gaps and build on existing understanding. This creates more durable learning moments.

3. Interest-aware conversations: Users can highlight interesting concepts, and Stella adapts the conversation to explore these areas more deeply. Learning follows natural curiosity rather than a predetermined path.

Early users have reported unexpected learning moments—from a Computer Science PhD finally understanding “weak form” to a doctor exploring what it is about Quaker philosophy that inspires her work.

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Technical implementation focuses on thoughtful UX that extracts practical value from existing LLM capabilities. Stella uses Claude for dialogue but innovates in how these interactions are structured and presented. The interface is built in React, with a backend that adjusts to user interest and existing understanding.

Some interesting challenges solved:

- Balancing guidance vs. independent thinking

- Tracking the user’s level of interest and curiosity

- Creating meaningful conversation paths that lead to new understanding

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I’m currently looking for feedback from:

- Educators interested in AI learning tools

- Developers exploring new UX paradigms for AI

- Curious minds who enjoy deep learning conversations

Currently opening Stella for limited beta testing. Looking for 20–30 people who want to explore topics deeply and provide feedback on the learning experience.

If you're interested in trying it out, sign up here: https://krelb9yoq56.typeform.com/to/Ild6JaQD

I'm particularly interested in hearing how the interface affects how much you actually learn and retain compared to traditional LLM chatbots. Happy to discuss more in the comments!

Comments

nic_seo•4mo ago
An unexpected use case emerged during testing: Stella works really well for brainstorming because she introduces relevant concepts that deepen your thinking. While brainstorming marketing strategies for Stella herself, she introduced me to the 'Zone of Proximal Development' concept, which helped clarify my target audience.

This got me thinking about how learning and ideation are naturally intertwined. Would love to hear the community's thoughts on tools that enhance thinking through teaching, or vice versa!

lifexplorer•4mo ago
I used Stella to explore and develop my thoughts around the “junk paper” issue in academic research publications, and I came out the other side with a better and deeper understanding of the problem. Stella gently prodded me to think about how my new understanding might translate into a solution as well. The dialogue was so cathartic for me that I slept extra well that night. Well done on your prototype. I hope that you develop this Socratic approach to thinking and learning further.
nic_seo•4mo ago
that's really great to hear—especially that you slept better that night :) I think a lot of learning is driven by emotional catharsis, so this is music to my ears. a lot of the topics I use Stella to learn are "troubling" to me in some way.

thanks for testing! excited to keep developing this to unlock more of these moments for people