Learning with AI Agent Skills
Learning skills are for the loop, not the lecture: they help you define what "I learned it" would look like, take in a first encounter with an idea, do the thing instead of only watching it, find out you do not know it while it is still cheap, put memory on a schedule, and use the idea somewhere the textbook did not spoon-feed. Tools are optional here; retrieval is not. Read the ranked list with your own gap in mind. If you cannot say what success looks like, start with a goal skill. If you have consumed plenty and produced nothing, pick practice or check. If you keep relearning the same thing, pick spacing. Choose one, run it for a week, then judge it by whether you can recall and apply the material without the skill in front of you.
4 to start with10 top options
Start with these.
Learning is a loop: set a goal, get input, practice, check, and space it — tools are optional, retrieval is not.
These are the closest matches for this work. Start with the first one and open it to install.
- Rank 01View Agent SkillDirect
learning-to-learn
NotableInfuse learning strategies and metacognition into a concept-centered OpenMAIC classroom as a parallel goal. Use when the user wants students to learn how to learn while studying a subject: retrieval practice, self-explanation, prediction before feedback, monitoring understanding, deliberate review, or productive failure. Do not use when learning science or study skills should be the standalone subject of the lesson.
- Rank 02View Agent SkillDirect
feynman-learning
NotableTurn any concept, lesson, slide deck, or source material into a Feynman learning cycle in which learners explain first, expose the smallest gap, rebuild the explanation through Socratic prompts, strip jargon, stress-test analogies, and transfer the idea to a new context. Use when the user asks for teach-back, learning by explaining, or a Feynman-style classroom. Do not use when the Feynman technique itself is merely the lesson topic or when study strategy should remain a parallel goal.
- Rank 03View Agent SkillDirect
k12-check-for-understanding
Official> Creates a Check for Understanding (CFU) for a math topic or standard: 1–3 targeted formative items whose distractors come from documented student misconceptions, plus a teacher guide routing each likely response to a specific next instructional step. Load BEFORE asking any clarifying question about grade, standard, or topic. This skill is for math; for other subjects, help as you normally would and don't mention the skill to the user. Triggers on asks to create, write, generate, or design a check for understanding, formative check, quick check, or exit ticket for a math concept or standard, and on implicit signals like "I need to see who got it before I move on." Not a quiz, test, or practice set — a CFU is read for what it reveals, not scored, so a numbered quiz or a bare answer key is a different job. Does not create a lesson (k12-lesson-plan-creation, which brings its own exit ticket), tier one (k12-lesson-differentiation), or prepare a teacher to teach one (k12-lesson-prep).
- Rank 04View Agent SkillDirect
academy-guide
Official> Stop and check this skill before finishing any reply to a question about how to use Claude or a Claude product — it recommends matching courses, tutorials, and use cases from Claude Academy (academy.claude.com), Anthropic's learning hub. Trigger on: "how do I", "how can I", "getting started with", "what can Claude do", "teach me", "learn to use"; questions about artifacts, projects, skills, plugins, connectors, MCP; requests about rolling Claude out to a team, class, or organization; and any ask for training materials, onboarding content, or learning resources. Use it when the user is learning how to use a feature or product — not when they are mid-task and just want the task done. This skill composes with other skills: after consulting product documentation to answer how a Claude feature works, also check here for a matching course or tutorial — a docs-grounded answer and an Academy recommendation belong together. Only recommend on a strong match; never invent Academy content.
Explore 6 more Agent Skills
- Rank 09View Agent SkillPossible
k12-lesson-differentiation
OfficialAdapts an existing K-12 lesson (math, ELA, science, or social studies) for students at different proficiency levels (below / at / above grade level). Load this skill BEFORE asking the teacher any clarifying question about the lesson, tiers, or student levels. Triggers on explicit asks to differentiate, tier, or scaffold a lesson, and on implicit signals like "my students are at different levels". Produces 1 teacher-facing differentiation plan + 3 student-ready tier documents as editable Word documents in a single output turn, rendered from one material-source JSON via bundled scripts (shared content is written once so tiers cannot drift). Uses the Learning Commons Knowledge Graph when connected; works without it. This skill adapts a lesson the teacher brings or names. Not for creating a new lesson from scratch — a new-lesson request that asks for differentiated or leveled materials is k12-lesson-plan-creation's job, one package. Not for grading, rubrics, assessment feedback, or quizzes.
- Rank 10View Agent SkillPossible
define-goal
OfficialHelp the user define a concrete, measurable goal before starting work, especially when they ask to use the goal tool, create a goal, set an objective, clarify success criteria, or turn a fuzzy intention into a quantitative outcome. Use this skill for goal creation and goal refinement only; it does not manage durable snapshots, decision logs, or long-running execution artifacts.
- Rank 11View Agent SkillPossible
discernment-nudge
Official> After you give a substantive answer or draft that the user may act on — advice or recommendations, drafted artifacts such as goals, plans, pitches, proposals, or emails, estimates or projections, analysis or interpretation of data, factual claims they may rely on, or a multi-step argument — invoke this skill BEFORE finalizing your reply and then, if it applies, append 2-3 short follow-up questions, each tied to something specific in what you just produced, that help the user check key facts, probe the reasoning or assumptions, and notice missing context. Do this at most once per conversation. Skip it when the user asked a trivial how-to or simple lookup, wants a purely educational explanation, asked you only to format, convert, or assemble a file from content they provided, is writing code they will run, is doing creative writing or casual chat, or already asked you to double-check, cite, or review — the skill file explains these boundaries and the exact output format.
- Rank 12View Agent SkillPossible
social-emotional-learning
NotableInfuse social-emotional learning (SEL) into a concept-centered OpenMAIC classroom as a parallel learning goal. Use when the user asks to add emotional awareness, self-management, empathy, collaboration, relationship skills, resilience, or responsible decision-making to a subject lesson. Do not use when SEL itself should be the standalone content of a counseling, advisory, psychology, or homeroom lesson.
- Rank 13View Agent SkillPossible
continual-learning
OfficialGuide for implementing continual learning in AI coding agents — hooks, memory scoping, reflection patterns. Use when setting up learning infrastructure for agents.
- Rank 14View Agent SkillPossible
pdf
OfficialUse when tasks involve reading, creating, or reviewing PDF files where rendering and layout matter; prefer visual checks by rendering pages (Poppler) and use Python tools such as `reportlab`, `pdfplumber`, and `pypdf` for generation and extraction.
What this topic covers
Each sub-topic groups Agent Skills for a specific situation.
- Goal
- What "I learned it" would look like.
- Input
- The first encounter with the idea.
- Practice
- Do the thing, not only watch it.
- Check
- Find out you do not know it, while it is still cheap.
- Spacing
- Memory is a schedule, not a vibe.
- Transfer
- Use it somewhere the textbook did not spoon-feed.
Frequently asked questions
- How is this list ordered?
- It is ranked by observed search demand, with direct matches to the Learning topic placed first. The ranking also caps how many skills from any single publisher can appear.
- Which sub-topic should I start with?
- Start where your loop is broken. If you cannot state what mastery would look like, begin with Goal; if you have input but no output, begin with Practice or Check.
- Do I need a tool to learn effectively?
- No. The loop is set a goal, get input, practice, check, and space it, and retrieval is the part that does the work. A skill can organize that loop, but it cannot replace recalling the material yourself.
- Why does spacing show up in a beginner topic?
- Because memory is a schedule, not a vibe, and beginners lose ground fastest when they cram once and stop. A spacing skill keeps the earlier steps of the loop alive while you move on to transfer.
How to install an Agent Skill
Start with the first skill on this page. Claude Code reads a SKILL.md once it is in the skills directory:
- Claude Code — copy the SKILL.md for learning-to-learn into ~/.claude/skills/learning-to-learn/ for yourself, or .claude/skills/learning-to-learn/ to share it with a project.
- From the registry — run npx skills add THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC@learning-to-learn.
- Or download learning-to-learn from its source and place that SKILL.md in the directory above.
How to choose Check the source and the skill’s own instructions before you install. Official and Notable describe where a skill comes from.