A tutor built on learning science
DuckyHelper's tutor is built to teach. It is trained on 1,000,000+ tutoring examples and inspired by 100+ learning-science papers, so it guides you to answers instead of handing them over. This is where we show the work: the model, the library of papers it draws on, the principles it follows and the white papers that explain the design.
In this section
A tutor, not an answer machine
Answers are easy to get now. Learning is not. A 2025 study in PNAS found that high school students who practiced with a plain GPT-4 chat did better in practice and worse on the exam once it was gone. So we started from a better question: how do people actually learn?
We build DuckyHelper on what the research says about how people learn, and we show our sources.
A tutor should make you do the thinking, and help just enough to keep you going. Show, don't only tell: a mark on your own page beats a paragraph about it. Check, then check again later: remembering is part of learning, not a test after it.
Say what the research found, and say when we have not measured something ourselves. Every result on these pages belongs to the study that found it. DuckyHelper has not been tested in a controlled study yet.
What the research looks like in the app
Each principle turns into something you can see and use. These are the real Mac app and the real cards, filmed as they are.
Hints before the answer
Stuck on a quiz question in the Mac app? Press Hint: first a nudge, then a bigger hint, then a worked step. The answer comes last. Why a tutor should guide, not hand over answers
It draws while it explains
In the Mac app, Ducky's pen circles the slip on your own page and draws the idea one mark at a time. In the Eddy tab, Eddy draws on its blackboard as it talks. The research on pictures and words
Quiz, don't re-read
Say "quiz me" and answer any way you like: tap, type the math, or press a key. A miss gets "Not quite" and the reason why. The retrieval practice research
What you miss comes back
A missed question becomes a flashcard that comes back on a spaced schedule, just before you would forget it. Why spacing works
From the lab
Frequently asked questions
What is DuckyHelper's tutor trained on?
It is trained on 1,000,000+ tutoring examples and built around 100+ learning-science papers, which are listed with citations in our library. It is trained to teach, not just to answer.
Is there research showing DuckyHelper works?
Not yet. DuckyHelper has not been tested in a controlled study. The research on this site is the published learning science it is built on, and every number belongs to the study that reported it.
Where can I read the papers?
The library lists every paper with its authors, year, journal and a link to the publisher or DOI. We link to the original instead of hosting copies.
Ready to learn
DuckyHelper is ready on your Mac. Learn with Eddy on its blackboard, or with Ducky right on your screen.
