IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i18p14025-d1244981.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Generative AI and ChatGPT in School Children’s Education: Evidence from a School Lesson

Author

Listed:
  • Jussi S. Jauhiainen

    (Department of Geography and Geology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
    Institute of Ecology and the Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 50409 Tartu, Estonia)

  • Agustín Garagorry Guerra

    (Department of Geography and Geology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland)

Abstract

In 2023, the global use of generative AI, particularly ChatGPT-3.5 and -4, witnessed a significant surge, sparking discussions on its sustainable implementation across various domains, including education from primary schools to universities. However, practical testing and evaluation in school education are still relatively unexplored. This article examines the utilization of generative AI in primary school education. The study involved 110 pupils, aged 8–14 years old, studying in the 4th–6th grades across four classes in two schools. Using laptops, pupils participated in test lessons where content, text, figures, and exercises were generated and modified using generative AI, specifically ChatGPT-3.5. The results demonstrated that it was possible to use ChatGPT-3.5, as one example of generative AI, to personify learning material so that it would meet the knowledge and learning skills of pupils with different levels of knowledge. A clear majority of pupils enjoyed learning the generative AI-modified material. There is a promising potential of generative AI use in school education, supporting pupils’ motivated learning and skills development. However, these tools need to be developed, refined and optimized to ensure proper adaptation and to create impactful, inclusive, and sustainable learning in schools to benefit pupils, teachers and education managers alike.

Suggested Citation

  • Jussi S. Jauhiainen & Agustín Garagorry Guerra, 2023. "Generative AI and ChatGPT in School Children’s Education: Evidence from a School Lesson," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-22, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:18:p:14025-:d:1244981
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/18/14025/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/18/14025/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ibrahim Arpaci & Abdullah Kaya & Mahadi Bahari, 2023. "Investigating the Influence of an Arduino-Based Educational Game on the Understanding of Genetics among Secondary School Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-11, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ivica Pesovski & Ricardo Santos & Roberto Henriques & Vladimir Trajkovik, 2024. "Generative AI for Customizable Learning Experiences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-23, April.
    2. Carlos Alexandre Gouvea da Silva & Felipe Negrelle Ramos & Rafael Veiga de Moraes & Edson Leonardo dos Santos, 2024. "ChatGPT: Challenges and Benefits in Software Programming for Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-23, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:18:p:14025-:d:1244981. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.