Hint Ladder

Problem

An agent optimised for helpfulness answers the question it is asked, which for a stuck learner means handing over the solution. That resolves the immediate request but removes the productive struggle that produces durable learning, and it does so invisibly because the learner feels helped. The agent needs a way to give just enough help to keep the learner moving without giving so much that it does the thinking for them.

Solution

Define a ladder of help from least to most specific — an orienting nudge, a pointer to the relevant concept, a partial step, and finally a worked solution — and start at the bottom. After each hint the learner attempts the problem again; on a failed attempt the agent steps up one level, and on progress it holds or steps down. The level is keyed to an estimate of the learner's mastery and to the count of consecutive failures, so specificity rises just fast enough to keep the learner moving and no faster. The full solution sits at the top of the ladder as a last resort, reached only after the smaller nudges have been tried, rather than offered first.

When to use

• The learner is meant to build a skill, so getting unstuck matters less than doing the work.
• The agent can estimate whether the learner is progressing or stuck between attempts.
• Help can be decomposed into levels of increasing specificity up to a full solution.