How to communicate with Khanmigo | Introducing Khanmigo | Khanmigo for students | Khan Academy

What we're going to do in this video is talk about how you can use Kigo if you need help or if you are stuck on something.

So, let's say you're having trouble in your math class. You might want to go to the activity "Tutor Me Math and Science" because we're talking about a math class. You'd also go here if you're talking about a science class. You could do this here, or you could go to that content on KH Academy, and Kigo can show up on top of that. But let's just stick to where we are now.

Now, the more that you can tell Kigo 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 Kigo 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. If you just told a teacher, "Hey, I'm just having trouble with math," the teacher is going to have to ask more questions to figure out exactly what type of math.

So, Kigo might say, "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?" 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 to read exactly what Kigo 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 Kigo 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 going to go with equations. Equations, they're like little puzzles that need 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 Kigo is, "Hi Kigo, 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, to just read it step-by-step or piece by piece and think about what Kigo is asking you.

So, it's kind of having a little bit of fun right here, making a comparison to a dance, but it's starting with an example. How about this one: 3x + 2 is equal to 8. 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 Kigo just double-checking: The math spot-on! Subtracting two from both sides gives us 3x equals 6.

Now, it's really important just not to click on bubbles, just hoping to get another reaction. You should really read what Kigo is saying and try to understand.

So, for example, if you don't know how subtracting two from both sides got you to 3x is equal to 6, 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 did three disappear on the left?"

The better that you can articulate exactly what you're wondering about, and then when Kigo responds, read Kigo'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.