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October 21, 2024

AI Tutor Improves Physics 2 Learning Outcomes

Jordan Jarrett and Ben Grier, faculty members and MTI Coordinators in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering provided this article as an MTI tip on generative AI on October 11, 2024. 

This week I wanted to bring you a positive story about AI impacting the classroom and student success. In this story by Anne J. Manning (formerly of CSU 2015-2023) in the September 5, 2024 Harvard Gazette, a popular Harvard physics 2 course provided students with a customized AI Tutor chatbot for interacting with the course material. The results from a research study (Kestin, G. Miller, K, Klales, A., Milbourne, T. and Ponti, G. under review) lead by Greg Kestin and Kelly Miller indicate that learning outcomes for students nearly doubled when compared to instructor-led active-learning based in-class instruction.  Kestin et al. compared pre- and post-test scores of 194 students in their study.  The authors also measured time on task and student perceptions of the two types of instruction.

“We went into the study extremely curious about whether our AI tutor could be as effective as in-person instructors,” Kestin, who also serves as associate director of science education, said. “And I certainly didn’t expect students to find the AI-powered lesson more engaging.”

“But that’s exactly what happened: Not only did the AI tutor seem to help students learn more material, the students also self-reported significantly more engagement and motivation to learn when working with AI.”

The AI tutor can provide individually tailored, self-paced instruction and feedback accommodating students that are be exposed to the concepts and those that have a previous background.  The AI tutor is a very customized version of ChatGPT that “ensure the lessons are accurate and well-structured” according to Kestin (Manning A. 2024).  “While AI has the potential to supercharge learning, it could also undermine learning if we’re not careful,” Kestin said. “AI tutors shouldn’t ‘think’ for students, but rather help them build critical thinking skills. AI tutors shouldn’t replace in-person instruction, but help all students better prepare for it — and possibly in a more engaging way than ever before.”

The physics 2 AI tutor was created as a framework based on the GPT application that can be customized for other courses.  The AI tutor appears to be in beta, but you can join a list to be kept up-to-date with its services here (TeachGPT.us).

Now I think I should develop a generative AI based tutor for my large courses.  I just need to learn how.  Do any of you have the ability to develop one of these generative AI based frameworks?  I hope you find these posts helpful for your teaching.  As always, I appreciate your questions, comments and feedback on this and other teaching related topics.  Happy week 9.

Cheers, Paul