Students' Perceived Roles, Opportunities, and Challenges of a Generative AI-powered Teachable Agent: A Case of Middle School Math Class

TL;DR

This study investigates middle school students' perceptions of a Generative AI-powered teachable agent in math class, highlighting its roles, benefits, and challenges through qualitative data from 108 students.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into students' perceptions of GenAI-powered TAs in authentic classroom settings, informing future educational AI design.

Findings

Students see the AI as a learning companion and problem-solver.

Students recognize benefits like personalized support and challenges like potential over-reliance.

The study offers practical implications for designing AI in education.

Abstract

Ongoing advancements in Generative AI (GenAI) have boosted the potential of applying long-standing learning-by-teaching practices in the form of a teachable agent (TA). Despite the recognized roles and opportunities of TAs, less is known about how GenAI could create synergy or introduce challenges in TAs and how students perceived the application of GenAI in TAs. This study explored middle school students perceived roles, benefits, and challenges of GenAI-powered TAs in an authentic mathematics classroom. Through classroom observation, focus-group interviews, and open-ended surveys of 108 sixth-grade students, we found that students expected the GenAI-powered TA to serve as a learning companion, facilitator, and collaborative problem-solver. Students also expressed the benefits and challenges of GenAI-powered TAs. This study provides implications for the design of educational AI and AI-assisted instruction.