Assessing Student Errors in Experimentation Using Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models: A Comparative Study with Human Raters

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Main Authors: Bewersdorff, Arne, Seßler, Kathrin, Baur, Armin, Kasneci, Enkelejda, Nerdel, Claudia
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Bewersdorff, Arne
Seßler, Kathrin
Baur, Armin
Kasneci, Enkelejda
Nerdel, Claudia
author_facet Bewersdorff, Arne
Seßler, Kathrin
Baur, Armin
Kasneci, Enkelejda
Nerdel, Claudia
contents Identifying logical errors in complex, incomplete or even contradictory and overall heterogeneous data like students' experimentation protocols is challenging. Recognizing the limitations of current evaluation methods, we investigate the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) for automatically identifying student errors and streamlining teacher assessments. Our aim is to provide a foundation for productive, personalized feedback. Using a dataset of 65 student protocols, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system based on the GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 series was developed and tested against human raters. Our results indicate varying levels of accuracy in error detection between the AI system and human raters. The AI system can accurately identify many fundamental student errors, for instance, the AI system identifies when a student is focusing the hypothesis not on the dependent variable but solely on an expected observation (acc. = 0.90), when a student modifies the trials in an ongoing investigation (acc. = 1), and whether a student is conducting valid test trials (acc. = 0.82) reliably. The identification of other, usually more complex errors, like whether a student conducts a valid control trial (acc. = .60), poses a greater challenge. This research explores not only the utility of AI in educational settings, but also contributes to the understanding of the capabilities of LLMs in error detection in inquiry-based learning like experimentation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2308_06088
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Assessing Student Errors in Experimentation Using Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models: A Comparative Study with Human Raters
Bewersdorff, Arne
Seßler, Kathrin
Baur, Armin
Kasneci, Enkelejda
Nerdel, Claudia
Artificial Intelligence
Identifying logical errors in complex, incomplete or even contradictory and overall heterogeneous data like students' experimentation protocols is challenging. Recognizing the limitations of current evaluation methods, we investigate the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) for automatically identifying student errors and streamlining teacher assessments. Our aim is to provide a foundation for productive, personalized feedback. Using a dataset of 65 student protocols, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system based on the GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 series was developed and tested against human raters. Our results indicate varying levels of accuracy in error detection between the AI system and human raters. The AI system can accurately identify many fundamental student errors, for instance, the AI system identifies when a student is focusing the hypothesis not on the dependent variable but solely on an expected observation (acc. = 0.90), when a student modifies the trials in an ongoing investigation (acc. = 1), and whether a student is conducting valid test trials (acc. = 0.82) reliably. The identification of other, usually more complex errors, like whether a student conducts a valid control trial (acc. = .60), poses a greater challenge. This research explores not only the utility of AI in educational settings, but also contributes to the understanding of the capabilities of LLMs in error detection in inquiry-based learning like experimentation.
title Assessing Student Errors in Experimentation Using Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models: A Comparative Study with Human Raters
topic Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.06088