arXiv AI

Beyond Access: Guided LLM Scaffolding for Independent Learning in Undergraduate Statistics

arXiv:2606. 01375v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly entering students' learning practices, but their educational value depends on whether they support reasoning or enable task completion without engagement.

arXiv AI
3d ago

Examining Variation in How Guided AI Tutors Resolve Student Impasses

The study analyzes 20,462 student turns from 1,260 sessions with a guided LLM chemistry tutor, identifying 6,630 impasse turns categorized as conceptual errors, expressed uncertainty, or help‑seeking. Three tutoring conditions—baseline, no‑direct‑answer, and guided—were simulated, revealing that the baseline tutor often gave direct answers, the no‑direct‑answer tutor always asked follow‑up questions, and the guided tutor varied its responses based on context. Impasse trajectories showed that each additional impasse turn reduced the likelihood of recovery, while addressing errors became increasingly beneficial compared to repeated scripted questioning.

By Bakhtawar Ahtisham, Kirk Vanacore, Alessandra Napoli, Josh Arens, Ksenia Ionova, Clayton Cohn, Shima Salehi, Rene Kizilcec
arXiv AI
Aug 12

Access Timing as Scaffolding: A Reinforcement Learning Approach to GenAI in Education

arXiv:2605. 15850v3 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: In recent years, generative AI (GenAI) in educational settings has become ubiquitous in university students' daily lives, despite its potential to induce over-reliance, metacognitive disengagement, and diminished learning when used unrestrictedly.

By Janne Rotter, Pau Benazet i Montobbio, Davinia Hern\'andez-Leo
arXiv AI
Sep 21

Reducing Barriers to Academic Support: Evaluating a Course-Specific RAG System for Addressing Help-Seeking Disparities in Higher Education

The paper introduces Beacon, a course‑specific Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) system that offers private, module‑aligned academic support to students. By grounding responses in approved teaching materials, Beacon aims to lower barriers to help‑seeking and encourage independent learning, especially in computing education where tasks are cumulative and demanding. Evaluation through questionnaires and interviews showed students found Beacon’s responses trustworthy and closely aligned with course content, viewing it as a useful first point of support before consulting lecturers or official resources.

By Andy Gray, Jake Hobbs
arXiv AI
Jul 24

AI Assistants Overassist

arXiv:2607. 21306v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used as tutors and thought partners, helping users reason through problems.

By Verona Teo, Raghav Jain, Tobias Gerstenberg, Max Kleiman-Weiner
arXiv AI
Sep 25

Guardrails or Roadblocks? Effects of Pedagogical Style and Context Awareness in AI Teaching Assistants for Programming

The study examined how different designs of AI teaching assistants (AI TAs) affect students in an introductory programming course. Four AI TAs were compared based on pedagogical style (Socratic vs. Direct instruction) and context awareness (no context vs. full context). Results showed that the Socratic AI TA with full context received the lowest favorability ratings, had the highest interaction stress, the most external LLM use, and the lowest comprehension outcomes, though differences were not statistically significant.

By Madeleine Eastwood, Harshith Narne, Joseph Hilby, Paul Denny, Ashish Aggarwal, Amanpreet Kapoor
arXiv Computation and Language
Aug 25

LLM Pedagogical Behavior in AI Tutoring Interactions

arXiv:2608.22993v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Students increasingly use LLMs as tutors for coursework and problem solving. Little is known about the level of assistance LLMs provide when students u...

By Suhyeon Lee, Juneha Baek, Jaehyeong Park, Donghyuk Shin
arXiv AI
Jun 9

AI-Integrated Learning Management System for Middle School: A Longitudinal Study of Learning Outcomes Through High School and Beyond

arXiv:2606. 07544v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Middle school is a key window for building core academic skills and the learning routines students carry into later grades, yet many students still fall behind because help is often limited and comes too late, after they have already been stuck for a while.

By Misan Paul Etchie, Taiwo Olutosin
arXiv AI
Sep 2

Socrates went Nuclear: Comparing Interaction Strategies for AI systems in a Learning Context using Brain Sensing

The study compares three AI interaction designs for learning nuclear safety protocols: an unrestricted conversational bot, a Socratic hint‑guided bot, and an adaptive tutoring system that uses brain‑derived cognitive engagement. Fifty participants, with no prior knowledge, completed a video lesson, pre‑test, AI‑driven assessment, and post‑test. Results showed the unrestricted bot yielded the highest learning gains, the adaptive system produced the greatest EEG engagement, and usage patterns revealed that unrestricted users mainly sought direct answers while Socratic users initially tried reasoning before disengaging.

By Alexandre Clin Deffarges, Nataliya Kosmyna, Pattie Maes