Your note (7 Oct): the quoted student or teacher at the top of a lesson is fine some of the time, and overused. The rule is now: the scene asks its question in the narrator's voice, the answer is not given straight away, and a student speaks only when the claim is the lesson's point and the belief is a real one. Each lesson exists twice, as an article (one sentence per line) and as a video, so each card shows the article's opening lines and then the video's first beats. Below, five openers rewritten that way (red before, green after) and three left as they are, each with the reason. Tap once per card.
Landon was only there to say that snow falls from clouds. The scene says it; the narrator asks the question.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Article opening: Miss Hayes's class is at the classroom window on a rainy day. | Article opening: It is a rainy day at school. |
| Article opening: Rain falls from a gray cloud onto the playground. | Article opening: Rain falls from a gray cloud onto the playground. |
| Article opening: Landon says that last winter, snow fell from a cloud just like that one. | Article opening: Last winter, snow fell from a gray cloud too. |
| Article opening: Rain and snow look nothing alike. | Article opening: Rain and snow look nothing alike. |
| Article opening: What do rain and snow have in common? | Article opening: What do rain and snow have in common? |
| Video opening, beat 1: Here's Miss Hayes's class at the window. Rain falls from a gray cloud onto the playground. Landon says snow fell from a cloud like that one last winter. What do rain and snow have in common? | Video opening, beat 1: Here's the playground on a rainy day. Rain falls from a gray cloud. Last winter, snow fell from a gray cloud too. Rain and snow look nothing alike. So what do they have in common? Let's look. |
| Video opening, beat 2: First, what is a cloud? It looks like cotton balls, but it isn't. A cloud is many tiny drops of water floating in the air. | Video opening, beat 2: First, what is a cloud? It looks like cotton balls, but it isn't. A cloud is many tiny drops of water floating in the air. |
| Video opening, beat 3: The tiny drops bump and join into bigger drops. Earth pulls the big drops down, and they fall. That's rain. | Video opening, beat 3: The tiny drops bump and join into bigger drops. Earth pulls the big drops down, and they fall. That's rain. |
Your ruling: 2026-10-07 · Apply the change (recommended)
'All of this rain came out of our lake' is a claim no child made; the lesson's real question is where the cloud's water came from, so the narrator asks that and the lesson looks.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Article opening: A gray rain cloud hangs over Levi's town, and rain is starting to fall. | Article opening: A gray rain cloud hangs over a small town, and rain is starting to fall. |
| Article opening: A small lake sits at the edge of the town. | Article opening: A small lake sits at the edge of the town. |
| Article opening: Levi says: 'All of this rain came out of our lake.' | Article opening: Did all of this rain come out of that lake? |
| Article opening: Is Levi right? Where did most of the cloud's water come from? | Article opening: Where did most of the cloud's water come from? Let's look. |
| Video opening, beat 1: Here's Levi's town, with a gray rain cloud over it and rain starting to fall. A small lake sits at the edge of the town. Levi says all of this rain came out of our lake. Is he right? | Video opening, beat 1: Here's a small town, with a gray rain cloud over it and rain starting to fall. A small lake sits at the edge of the town. Did all of this rain come out of that lake? |
| Video opening, beat 2: No, he's not right. The Sun's light carries energy to the water on Earth, so the water warms up and evaporates. The lake evaporates, but so does every river, every puddle, and the whole ocean. | Video opening, beat 2: It did not come from the lake alone. The Sun's light carries energy to the water on Earth, so the water warms up and evaporates. The lake evaporates, but so does every river, every puddle, and the ocean. |
| Video opening, beat 3: Now, 97 of every 100 squares of Earth's water are in the ocean, so most of the Sun's light that lands on water lands on the ocean. Of every 10 cups of water that go into the air, about 9 come from the ocean. | Video opening, beat 3: Now, 97 of every 100 squares of Earth's water are in the ocean, so most of the Sun's light that lands on water lands on the ocean. Of every 10 cups of water that go into the air, about 9 come from the ocean. |
Your ruling: 2026-10-07 · Apply the change (recommended)
'Somebody must have smashed it. Is he right? No, he's not right.' answered itself. 'Nobody has been up here with a hammer. So what broke it?' leaves the puzzle open.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Article opening: Miss Ramos's class walks a trail in a state park. | Article opening: Miss Ramos's class walks a trail in a state park. |
| Article opening: At the top of the hill, a big gray boulder sits beside the path. | Article opening: At the top of the hill, a big gray boulder sits beside the path. |
| Article opening: A crack runs down the boulder, and pieces of gray rock lie on the ground right beside it. | Article opening: A crack runs down the boulder, and pieces of gray rock lie on the ground right beside it. |
| Article opening: Jesse says: 'Somebody must have smashed it.' | Article opening: Nobody has been up here with a hammer. |
| Article opening: Is Jesse right? | Article opening: Is Jesse right? |
| Video opening, beat 1: Here's Miss Ramos's class on a hilltop trail in a state park. A big gray boulder sits beside the path, with a crack down it and pieces of rock lying right beside it. Jesse says somebody must have smashed it. Is he right? | Video opening, beat 1: Here's Miss Ramos's class on a hilltop trail in a state park. A big gray boulder sits beside the path, with a crack down it and pieces of rock lying right beside it. Jesse says somebody must have smashed it. Is he right? |
| Video opening, beat 2: No, he's not right. Nobody smashed it. Over many years, the rock slowly broke apart by itself, and the pieces stayed right where the rock sits. | Video opening, beat 2: No, he's not right. Nobody smashed it. Over many years, the rock slowly broke apart by itself, and the pieces stayed right where the rock sits. |
| Video opening, beat 3: And now consider an old stone wall. Its top stones crumbled, and the chips lie along the wall's base. The stones broke, and the pieces stayed in place. | Video opening, beat 3: And now consider an old stone wall. Its top stones crumbled, and the chips lie along the wall's base. The stones broke, and the pieces stayed in place. |
Your ruling: 2026-10-07 · Other: keep as it is - in this particular case, it works better to have the class walking up a trail rather than just talking about the walking trail with no one walking on it.
Luna only voiced the question. The gap in the bank is the puzzle; the narrator asks what took the path away.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Article opening: The class walks along the river toward the sea. | Article opening: The class walks along the river toward the sea. |
| Article opening: The path by the river has fallen in, and part of the bank is gone. | Article opening: The path by the river has fallen in, and part of the bank is gone. |
| Article opening: Luna asks: "What took the path away? Nobody dug here." | Article opening: Nobody dug here. So what took the path away? |
| Video opening, beat 1: Here's Miss Nakamura's class by the river. The path has fallen in where the bank is gone. Luna asks: what took the path away? | Video opening, beat 1: Here's the class walking by the river. The path has fallen in, and part of the bank is gone. Nobody dug here. So what took the path away? |
| Video opening, beat 2: Everything here is one of Earth's four big parts: land, water, air, living things. | Video opening, beat 2: Everything here is one of Earth's four big parts: land, water, air, living things. |
| Video opening, beat 3: The river carried the bank's soil away. The water acted on the land. | Video opening, beat 3: The river carried the bank's soil away. The water acted on the land. |
Your ruling: 2026-10-07 · Other: This is confusing. It seems like the headache and the script are different. What is the headache? Why are you repeating both? I only need to see the script. There shouldn't be a separate headache on its own.
Callie only voiced the question, and 'it hands over energy' lost its subject. Now the scene asks, and the rolling marble transfers energy to the still marble (your Topic 5 note).
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Article opening: Miss Fischer's class has marbles out on the classroom floor. | Article opening: Marbles are out on the classroom floor. |
| Article opening: Brielle rolls a marble toward a still marble. | Article opening: Brielle rolls a marble toward a still marble. |
| Article opening: Before it arrives, Callie asks: 'What will each marble do?' | Article opening: What will happen when one marble hits another? |
| Video opening, beat 1: Here's Miss Fischer's class with marbles out on the classroom floor. Brielle rolls a marble toward a still marble. | Video opening, beat 1: Here are marbles on the floor. Brielle rolls a marble toward a still marble. |
| Video opening, beat 2: Before it arrives, Callie asks: what will each marble do? | Video opening, beat 2: What will happen when one marble hits another? The rolling marble hits the still marble. The still marble starts moving, and the rolling marble slows down. |
| Video opening, beat 3: The rolling marble hits the still marble. This hit is a collision. It hands over some of its energy to the still marble. | Video opening, beat 3: When the rolling marble hits another marble, this is called a collision, and the rolling marble transfers some of its energy to the still marble. |
Your ruling: 2026-10-07 · Other: This just isn't particularly well worded anyway. The question will be better to just be like, "What will happen when one marble hits another?" When the rolling marble hits another marble, this is called a collision, and the rolling marble transfers some of its energy to the still marble.
Cedric's 'the cold is getting in' is the belief the whole lesson exists to break (a catalogued misconception), and the lesson confronts it at once. The speaker earns his place.
Article opening: It is a snowy morning in Miss Hughes's classroom.
Article opening: Carla presses her hand flat on the cold window.
Article opening: After a moment, her hand feels cold.
Article opening: Cedric says, 'The cold is getting into your hand.'
Article opening: Miss Hughes asks, 'Is anything moving into Carla's hand?'
Article opening: Which one heats the other?
Video opening, beat 1: Here's Carla in Miss Hughes's classroom, her hand flat on the cold window. It feels cold.
Video opening, beat 2: Cedric says the cold is getting in. But Cedric is wrong. No cold moves into Carla's hand. Carla's hand heats the window.
Video opening, beat 3: The hotter thing always heats the colder thing, and her hand is hotter than the window.
Your ruling: 2026-10-07 · Agree, it stays (recommended)
Elliott's 'it will float because it's so small' is the real belief (size decides floating) that the paperclip breaks. The claim IS the lesson.
Article opening: Miss Castillo's class has two tubs of water on the table.
Article opening: Emery lowers a steel bolt into the water and lets go. The bolt sinks.
Article opening: Then Emery picks up a steel paperclip. It is tiny, and it is light.
Article opening: Elliott says the paperclip will float, because it is so small and so light.
Article opening: Is Elliott right?
Video opening, beat 1: Here's Miss Castillo's class, with two tubs of water on the table. Emery lowers a steel bolt in and lets go. It sinks.
Video opening, beat 2: Now she picks up a steel paperclip, tiny and light. Elliott says it will float, because it's so small. Is he right?
Video opening, beat 3: No, he's not right. The paperclip goes to the bottom. It sinks, just like the bolt. Both are steel.
Theodore's 'seeds need light to start' is a documented belief, and the three cups are the test that settles it. The claim sets up the fair test.
Article opening: Zoey sets up three cups of bean seeds on paper towels.
Article opening: One damp cup goes in the warm, dark cupboard: the cupboard cup. A second damp cup goes in the fridge: the fridge cup. A dry cup goes in the same warm, dark cupboard, next to the cupboard cup: the dry cup.
Article opening: Theodore says: "None of the seeds will start to grow. Seeds need light to start, and it is dark in the cupboard."
Video opening, beat 1: Here's Zoey with three cups of bean seeds. One damp cup goes in the warm, dark cupboard: the cupboard cup. Another damp cup goes in the fridge: the fridge cup. A dry cup goes beside the cupboard cup: the dry cup.
Video opening, beat 2: Theodore says none of the seeds will grow, because seeds need light and the cupboard is dark. A week later, the cupboard cup's seeds have grown a root in the dark.
Video opening, beat 3: The fridge cup was cold and the dry cup was dry, so neither grew. Theodore was not right: seeds grew with no light.
Your ruling: 2026-10-07 · Other: Here, the "headache" section that you have here is worded well, but the script part is not worded well. What is this "headache" section that you have here?
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