Researchers explore how AI could shape the future of student learning
As students settle into the new school year, one question looms large: How will artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT affect their learning? Seeking answers, a team from Johns Hopkins—including several CTY researchers—recently introduced a chatbot into a classroom of middle and high school students to act as a co-tutor and study the impact.
The pilot study included 22 students enrolled in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth's online course Diagnosis: Be the Doctor. It involved two virtual classrooms; both were taught by the same instructor and organized similarly, except for one key difference: Students in one classroom had access to a large language model designed to act like a coach, asking Socratic-style questions as students worked through medical case studies.
CTY director of research Kathryn Thompson was the lead author in the study. Co-authors included Kimberley Chandler and Emily Delinski of the Center for Talented Youth; and Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering computer scientists Daniel Khashabi, Candice Morgan, and Benjamin Van Durme.