Approach

Built on how people learn. Shaped by you.

Research has found a lot about what helps people learn. thinkering builds it into short daily activities, and leaves what and how you learn up to you.

Small swaps that make learning stick

The most useful practice often feels harder. That’s normal: the effort is what builds memory, understanding and skill.

Reading it again→Recalling it from memory
Highlighting→Explaining it in your own words
Watching straight through→Pausing to answer a question
Ten of the same problem→Mixing a few topics together

Researchers call these desirable difficulties: harder in the moment, better in the long run.

Every day, three jobs

A day in thinkering has up to three short activities, one for each part of learning something. Each is drawn from a library of activity types, and each type is built on a specific finding. You choose which types you use, and can add an activity of your own whenever you want one.

Take in something new

A new idea holds better when it’s linked to something you already know, shown worked through, or figured out before it’s named. Next introduces one goal from your path in a few short, interactive pages.

Prior knowledge
Worked examples
The generation effect

Next · German

Guided Discovery

Here are three sentences that start with “Heute”. Before we name the rule: where did the verb go?

› All 7 Next activities

Plain-English Explainer: Linking something new to something you know makes it easier to hold onto.
Worked Example: Studying a solved example teaches a method faster than working it out cold, especially when you're starting out.
Guided Discovery: Working something out before it's named makes it more memorable.
Mini Case: A story shows why an idea matters and gives your memory a hook.
Big Picture Map: Knowing the shape of a subject makes each new piece easier to place.
Watch Along: Pausing to answer questions turns watching into learning.
Guided Reading: Reading with a purpose helps you notice and keep what matters.

Strengthen

Make it stick

Memory and deeper understanding are built by pulling things back out, not by putting them in again. Strengthen has you recall, explain and practise what you’ve met, with feedback each time, and keeps coming back to it over days and weeks.

Retrieval practice
Spacing
Interleaving
Deliberate practice

Strengthen · Personal finance

Mixed Review

From memory: one question on index funds, one on your emergency fund, then back again.

› All 9 Strengthen activities

Watch Along: Pausing to answer questions turns watching into learning.
Quick Retrieval: Pulling something from memory is what makes it stick.
Explain It Back: Putting it in your own words shows what you understand and what's missing.
Spot the Error: Catching mistakes sharpens your sense of what right looks like.
Compare & Contrast: Seeing exactly where two ideas differ keeps you from mixing them up.
Complete the Example: It's the bridge between following a method and using it on your own.
Mixed Review: Switching between topics is harder, and that's what makes it last.
Focused Drill: Practicing just past your comfort zone, with feedback each time, builds skill fastest.
Noticing Reps: Many fast, checked judgments build an expert's instant recognition.

Go further

Put it to use

Knowing something and using it are different skills. Go further takes an idea into your own projects, conversations and surroundings, or deeper into its exceptions and connections. It’s there for days you have a little more time.

Transfer
Learning by teaching
Refining mental models
Communities of practice

Go further · Drawing

Put It to Work

Sketch your kitchen table with the two-point perspective from Tuesday. Where are your vanishing points?

› All 7 Go further activities

Put It to Work: Using an idea somewhere real is how it becomes yours.
Scenario Challenge: Making the calls yourself, not just picking answers, prepares you for real ones.
Teach It Forward: Preparing to teach shows you where your own understanding has gaps.
Make Something Small: Producing something, however small, uses what you know in a new way.
In the Wild: Spotting ideas out in the world connects what you learn to where it's used.
Dig Deeper: First explanations simplify; the nuance is what makes your understanding accurate.
Connect Ideas: Ideas you've connected are easier to recall and use together.

A little, often

A few minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday. Spreading practice out means you recall things just as they start to fade, and that’s what makes them last.

Old goals come back

Strengthen picks what you’ve met but not yet practised, then whatever you’ve gone longest without seeing.

Topics get mixed

Once you’ve started three goals, Mixed Review switches between them, so you learn which idea fits where.

The path moves with you

It’s a direction, not a syllabus. Reflect on how it’s going, and add, reorder or drop goals as you need.

What shows up each day is decided by simple, predictable rules from your progress. AI writes the activities; it doesn’t pick them.

Different things, learned differently

Learning a language isn’t like learning to draw, or to invest. thinkering leans on the methods that fit what you’re learning.

Languages

German, Spanish, Japanese

Plenty of reading and listening you can nearly understand, then producing sentences of your own.

Comprehensible input · Output practice

Hands-on skills

Drawing, music, chess

One weak spot at a time, just past what’s comfortable, with feedback on every try. Many quick examples to train your eye, then making something.

Deliberate practice · Perceptual learning

Technical subjects

Personal finance, coding, LLMs

Worked examples first, then examples with steps missing, then problems on your own. The support fades as you get more experienced.

Worked examples · Fading

Understanding a field

History, science, product management

Real cases, side-by-side comparisons, and connecting ideas to each other, so you build a map of the subject rather than a list of facts.

Case-based learning · Elaboration

You’re in charge

We learn better when we have real choices about what and how we learn. And knowing what works for you is a skill in its own right, one that grows with practice and outlasts any one subject.

Autonomy and motivation · Self-regulated learning

What would you like more or less of?

“More drills, fewer videos. And I’d rather explain things than pick from options.”

What you learn
Keep a few interests in focus and others just for exploring. Switch them whenever you like.
Where it’s heading
Edit, reorder or add goals on your path, or reflect on how it’s going and rework it.
How you practice
Turn activity types on or off. Figure out how you want to be learning each day.
More of this, less of that
Tell thinkering what you’d like more or less of, in your own words.
Your own activity
Add one whenever you want, with what you’d like to focus on or how you’d like to learn it.
Questions as you go
Ask anything mid-activity, and the answer becomes the next page.

Still to come

More configuration options for your learning routine. Follow it on the feedback board

Tell us what would help you learn

What we’re still working out

The methods are well tested. thinkering isn’t, yet.

The research is about the techniques. How to ensure this app applies them well and in the right context is what the beta and ongoing development are for.

What keeps you coming back

We care more about real progress, the right amount of challenge and relevance to your life than points or streaks. We haven’t settled what else helps, and we’re listening.

Suggesting, or letting you decide

Good defaults make it easy to start; choices make it yours. We’re still finding the balance, and it will keep shifting as we learn what helps.

AI can get things wrong

Activities are written for you by AI, and it can make mistakes. We’re working on accuracy checks. If something looks off, the feedback button is on every screen.