The Socratic app is a free app by Google that allows users to ask questions about school work at a high school or university level and get high-quality learning resources from trusted websites in the form of curated search results, detailed explanations, and links to videos.
After users sign in with their Google account, they are taken to the main screen of the Socratic app, which is a live view of the back camera on the device. Users can take a picture of a question by tapping on the center camera icon at the bottom of the screen or swiping left to search for information using voice. Alternatively, users can swipe right to type out a question/search term or swipe up to browse available topics.
After users input a question, Google’s AI technology will display results almost instantly from a variety of sources. If the result is available, Socratic will first display a top match from a trusted source along with a detailed explanation. However, if a result is not available, users will instead first see a question-and-answer section that shows detailed explanations for questions.
Users can also view educational videos from YouTube or other curated results from the web. keep in mind that these videos from YouTube and curated web results will open within the Socratic app and not in a web browser.
There are other types of content users can browse called Explainers, which give text-based explanations of different concepts, along with illustrations that can learners to better understand the text-based content. While these tend to be very short and to the point, they help tremendously with being able to get a better understanding of equations or concepts, and can also help with refining questions to be more specific if needed.
- Math – Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Precalculus, Calculus
- English/Language Arts – Fiction, Non-fiction, Drama, Poetry
- Science – Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, Environmental Science
- History – US History, World History
The Socratic app is an incredibly helpful tool for students who are in traditional and virtual classrooms and its accessibility settings work well with a variety of assistive technologies. The app can be of great help to parents who desire to assist their children with homework. The Socratic app can help guide parents through example problems and teach them how students are now expected to solve and show work for completing mathematical problems, allowing them to help their children through stumbling blocks.
While we don’t recommend using Socratic on a test, it’s a great tool for studying and completing homework, as well as gaining a better understanding of different topics.
The Socratic app is available for free to download on iOS and Android devices.
