Quest Ladder
TeachFORGE.ai
Quest Ladder / Active learning
Active learning blocks: the eight techniques
The eight things that can happen after an answer, in plain terms.
The answer is not the end of the question.
What they are
An active learning block is what a learner meets after they submit. The panel is headed Pedagogy blocks: tick the techniques this question type should use, then route them with exit routing.
Six of the eight are four-option single choice — a prompt, four options, and a reveal. Two are read-only and ask nothing of the learner.
The six that ask a question
| Technique | The learner |
|---|---|
| Elaborative flip | After a correct answer, picks which principle makes it right, then sees feedback on the underlying rule. |
| Generation cloze | Picks which option completes the key idea, then sees why the correct one fits. |
| Self-explanation | Reads an optional model explanation, then picks one of four explanations and gets feedback. The example uses different numbers from the question. |
| Free recall | Picks the best recall statement from four options before seeing the explanation. |
| Error analysis | Wrong answers only: picks one of four explanations for why the trap seemed right, then sees the correction. |
| Spaced reconstruction | Picks the best reconstruction from four options, then sees the canonical form in the reveal. |
They are all the same shape, so a learner meeting a second one is not learning a new interface. What differs is the question being asked about their own thinking.
The two that do not
Learn more
A read-only panel of rich blocks teaching the general method, with a different example from the question. At most one per routing.
Mnemonic hook
A read-only memory hook. Use only canonical mnemonics you have written yourself.
Learn more is the one to reach for when a learner needs the method rather than a prompt to reflect. Use a different example from the question — the point is to generalise, and repeating the same numbers teaches the instance.
Three that belong to the ladder, not the type
Three more appear in the catalogue but are configured on the ladder rather than here, because they happen between steps rather than after an answer.
- Confidence calibration — after each answer in a ladder, learners rate confidence from 1 to 10 before seeing results. It is what enables remediation.
- Predictive pre-step — before a ladder step, the learner predicts what it will cover.
- Interleaving nudge — injects a review question from an earlier step.
They are set in ladder settings. Seeing them here and finding no fields is expected.
How many to use
Two or three techniques across the ten routing rows is plenty for most types. Every block is time a learner spends after answering, and a routing that always runs three blocks turns a two-minute question into a six-minute one.
The highest-value single choice is error analysis on the confident-wrong rows. If you add nothing else, add that.