# Designing a flipped AI-chatbot learning module to support students’ environmental literacy development: A Fuzzy Delphi Method

**Authors:** Xiaoyu Wang, Xiang Li

PMC · DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0345027 · 2026-03-18

## TL;DR

This study creates a flipped AI chatbot learning module to improve students' environmental literacy through personalized and interactive learning.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is the FACL module, which integrates AI chatbots and flipped learning to enhance environmental education.

## Key findings

- The FACL module promotes personalized and student-centered learning through AI chatbot interactions.
- The module addresses traditional teaching challenges like low motivation and inadequate preparation.
- It offers a scalable framework for environmental science and educational technology.

## Abstract

China’s rapid economic growth has exacerbated environmental degradation, posing severe risks to public health and sustainable development. However, current environmental education in higher education remains predominantly teacher-centered, resulting in low engagement and inadequate development of Environmental Literacy (EL). Correspondingly, this study addresses these challenges by designing a Flipped AI-Chatbot Learning (FACL) module that is designed to support the development of students’ EL through an innovative integration of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Flipped Learning (FL). Using the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), this research gathered the consensus of 12 experts to develop a comprehensive instructional framework grounded in educational theories. In particular, the FACL module combines pre-class AI chatbot interactions with in-class active learning strategies to promote personalized, student-centered learning. Accordingly, the results identify key instructional objectives, strategies, and evaluation mechanisms, specifying module elements intended to address traditional teaching challenges. This includes low motivation, limited interaction, and inadequate pre-class preparation. Concurrently, this study contributes to environmental science, educational technology, and information literacy by providing a scalable and interdisciplinary framework that aligns theoretical innovation with practical application. Overall, the FACL module advances environmental education while potentially cultivating critical thinking and pro-environmental behaviors, with the intention of preparing students to address complex sustainability challenges in real-world contexts.

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** FLT3LG (fms related receptor tyrosine kinase 3 ligand) [NCBI Gene 2323] {aka FL, FLG3L, FLT3L, IMD125}
- **Diseases:** AI (MESH:C538142), deaths (MESH:D003643), FACL (MESH:D007859)
- **Chemicals:** chatbots (-)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Figures

19 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12998834/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12998834