an assessment engine includes a definition of inquiry skills being assessed . assessment models are used to infer skill demonstration as one or more students engage in inquiry within computerized simulations and / or microworlds . a pedagogical agent and / or help system provides real - time feedback to one or more students based on the assessment model outputs , and / or based on additional models that track one or more students developing proficiency across inquiry tasks over time . a pedagogical agent and / or help system for science inquiry tutoring responds in real - time on the basis of knowledge - engineered and data - mined assessment and / or tracking models .