Learning paths in MindMade are visualized as an explorable world: a living, expanding map of territories that students unlock, conquer, and defend through demonstrated mastery. Students begin with a small illuminated territory based on diagnosed knowledge state. Everything beyond is fog of war.
The skill node map is the canonical data layer underlying the gamified World Map. Mastery is the engine; the map is the display.
Every territory can be held three ways. Mastery is a claim a student deepens until the map itself changes shape.
Standard mastery threshold met: recall, own words, novel application, one connection.
25 LumensApplied across 3+ novel contexts and taught back to Maya.
60 LumensConnected to 5+ mastered nodes across domains, plus a synthesis artifact. Appears as a landmark on the World Map.
150 LumensLegendary nodes appear as visual landmarks on the World Map, such as a citadel, a lighthouse, or a mountain peak, and as spiky node badges on World View profiles. Aria holds one: The Beating Heart: the cardiovascular system, connected to fluid dynamics, electricity, evolution, ethics of transplantation, and the history of anatomy.
“You've claimed this territory. But I think you can make it a fortress. Want to try?” Maya, mid-session
Unlocking a territory requires meeting all four mastery threshold criteria for the concept node it represents. When a territory unlocks: the tutor announces it with ceremony, the World Map animates, the event is posted to World View (opt-in), Lumens are awarded, and the Ascent Score updates.
Racing is opt-in; families must actively enable competitive features. Students issue or accept Territory Challenges: a race to master the same node within 7 or 14 days. Both students can win; the first earns a Pioneer Badge on that territory.
Some regions require collaborative conquest: multiple students with different spiky nodes must each contribute before the territory fully opens. “The Confluence” opens only when a student with a Legendary biology node, a Fortified economics node, and a Claimed history node each contribute a synthesis artifact to a shared challenge.
Four times per year, a Season begins: a global gamification event lasting 6–8 weeks. Each Season introduces a temporary territory requiring cross-domain mastery; any mastery achieved is permanent even after the territory disappears. A Season around a solar eclipse rewards nodes across physics, history of astronomy, and indigenous navigation.
8.6 · The Explorer's Journal A living in-world document recording the student's journey across the World Map: the gamified face of the Draft Trail, presenting the same evidence in the language of exploration.
Maya knows Aria's map: the claimed heartland, the fog beyond, the next frontier. Meet the teacher who walks it with her.