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CoMeT: a browser-based contingent AI programming tutor with a support ladder over authored decision points

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

CoMeT is "a browser-based environment in which a learner works through a short programming task beside a chat tutor", with a sketchpad and code editor. Tasks run three gated phases (Planning with the editor locked, Monitoring, Evaluating), and correctness is decided by authored test cases, never by the model. Tutor C escalates one rung at a time through three asks (Socratic question, specific hint, contrasting case), concedes a point after R = 3 rounds, and returns to the first rung on take-up; coverage is decided by authored patterns rather than holistic model judgement.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Decision points must be authored per task and phase, with coverage patterns and scaffold wording, so the difference between tutors is auditable

Constraints

  • All three tutors ran on the same model backbone (Claude Haiku 4.5); take-up where patterns do not settle it falls to a one-word model judgement and a length threshold that errs on the learner's side

Target Learners

  • adult learners with no prior programming threshold through over five years of Python experience

Learning Goals

  • settling the decisions a program turns on before code is written
  • monitoring and evaluating one's own solution

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Hou, X., Weng, Y., Yeh, C. H., Lee, D. L., Zheng, L., Li, F., Wang, W., & Liu, Y. (2026). Adaptive Scaffolding Needs Contingency: An AI Tutor That Escalates and Fades on What the Learner Does. arXiv preprint. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.22993. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2609.22993
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id comet-contingent-ai-tutor-environment
title CoMeT: a browser-based contingent AI programming tutor with a support ladder over authored decision points
description CoMeT is "a browser-based environment in which a learner works through a short programming task beside a chat tutor", with a sketchpad and code editor.
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-10
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — hou-2026

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