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Course: Khanmigo for students > Unit 1
Lesson 1: Getting started with KhanmigoHow to communicate with Khanmigo
Sal Khan explains some ways to get the most out of your conversations with Khanmigo, Khan Academy's AI-powered tutor. One top tip: talk to Khanmigo just like you would to a person! The better you explain what you need help with, the better results you'll get and the more you'll learn. Created by Sal Khan.
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Video transcript
- [Instructor] What we're
gonna do in this video is talk about how you can
use Khanmigo if you need help or if you are stuck on something. So let's say you're having
trouble in your math class, so you might want to go to the activity Tutor me: Math and Science, because we're talking about a math class. You would also go here if you're talking about a science class. You could do this here or
you could go to that content on Khan Academy and Khanmigo
can show up on top of that. But let's just stick to where we are now. Now, the more that you can tell Khanmigo about what you're having problems with, the more it can help you. So for example, if I just said
something very open-ended, like "I'm confused in math," it doesn't help Khanmigo
a lot to think about well, what kind of math
are you having help with? Think about how you're
talking to say a teacher. And if you're just told a teacher, "Hey, I'm just having trouble with math," the teacher's going to
have to ask more questions to figure out exactly what type of math. So Khanmigo says, "Oh, no worries at all. "Math can be a tricky fellow. "Could you tell me which part of math "you're finding a bit puzzling? "Is it decimals, factoring
quadratics, or something else?" So, I can use these little bubbles here if it is one of these, but
maybe it's something different. Now, maybe we're having
trouble with equations. Ideally we would write down equations or we could write something else. We could click on something else here. Let me click on something else here. "Absolutely. "Could you tell me what
that something else is? "It will help me guide you better." So it's always important just read exactly what Khanmigo is asking for you and then try to answer its questions. Now, you could potentially
click on one of these, but these actually aren't really helping tell Khanmigo what that something else is. So, let me just write
it down, it's equations. And if I could tell
what type of equations, that would be even better. But let me just say, I'm
just gonna go with equations. "Ah, equations, they're
like little puzzles "waiting to be solved. "Now, are we talking
about simple equations, "quadratic equations, or
perhaps something else. "Let's narrow it down a bit more." So, I am going to say, "Well,
my teacher told me something "about two step equations." Two step equations. And we could have started here. If the first thing I wrote Khanmigo is, "Hi Khanmigo. "I'm having trouble with
two step equations." We could have gotten here a lot faster. Okay, so two step equations. "They're like a dance, two
steps to find the answer. "Let's practice with an example. "How about this one?" So, a lot of times when you
see a bunch of text like this and then you see all these other options, it can be a little intimidating. But I encourage you, even if
you need to read it out loud and just read it step by
step or piece by piece and think about what
is Khanmigo asking you. So it's kind of having a little bit of a, with fun right here, making
a, comparing it to a dance, but it's starting with an example. "How about this one? "3x plus two is equal to eight. "What is the first step
you think we should take "to solve this equation?" So, if you know what the
first step is, you can say it. Or you might even say, this isn't the type of equation we're dealing
with with my teacher. It's more like this, or
it deals with division or it deals with something else. But let's say this is the type of question that you're having trouble with. And if you do know what
the first step might be, say to subtract two from both sides, well, you might write that down. It also gives you some
choices right over here. And this is actually
what I would say anyway. So let me pick that. This right over here is Khanmigo just double checking the math. "Spot on. "Subtracting two from both
sides gives us 3x equal six." Now it's really important,
just don't click on bubbles, just hoping to get another reaction. You should really read
what Khanmigo is saying and try to understand. So for example, you don't know how subtracting two
from both sides got you to 3x is equal to six,
then you could ask it that. Don't just feel like you have to click on one of these things. Ask, "I'm still confused "why three disappeared on the left." And so, the better that
you can articulate exactly what you're wondering about. And then when Khanmigo responds, read Khanmigo's question carefully and answer it as best as you can, you're going to have a more productive, and hopefully, more
helpful tutoring session.