Improving Student-AI Interaction Through Pedagogical Prompting: An Example in Computer Science Education

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Xiao, Ruiwei, Hou, Xinying, Ye, Runlong, Kazemitabaar, Majeed, Diana, Nicholas, Liut, Michael, Stamper, John
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Xiao, Ruiwei
Hou, Xinying
Ye, Runlong
Kazemitabaar, Majeed
Diana, Nicholas
Liut, Michael
Stamper, John
author_facet Xiao, Ruiwei
Hou, Xinying
Ye, Runlong
Kazemitabaar, Majeed
Diana, Nicholas
Liut, Michael
Stamper, John
contents With the proliferation of large language model (LLM) applications since 2022, their use in education has sparked both excitement and concern. Recent studies consistently highlight students' (mis)use of LLMs can hinder learning outcomes. This work aims to teach students how to effectively prompt LLMs to improve their learning. We first proposed pedagogical prompting, a theoretically-grounded new concept to elicit learning-oriented responses from LLMs. To move from concept design to a proof-of-concept learning intervention in real educational settings, we selected early undergraduate CS education (CS1/CS2) as the example context. We began with a formative survey study with instructors (N=36) teaching early-stage undergraduate-level CS courses to inform the instructional design based on classroom needs. Based on their insights, we designed and developed a learning intervention through an interactive system with scenario-based instruction to train pedagogical prompting skills. Finally, we evaluated its instructional effectiveness through a user study with CS novice students (N=22) using pre/post-tests. Through mixed methods analyses, our results indicate significant improvements in learners' LLM-based pedagogical help-seeking skills, along with positive attitudes toward the system and increased willingness to use pedagogical prompts in the future. Our contributions include (1) a theoretical framework of pedagogical prompting; (2) empirical insights into current instructor attitudes toward pedagogical prompting; and (3) a learning intervention design with an interactive learning tool and scenario-based instruction leading to promising results on teaching LLM-based help-seeking. Our approach is scalable for broader implementation in classrooms and has the potential to be integrated into tools like ChatGPT as an on-boarding experience to encourage learning-oriented use of generative AI.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_19107
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Improving Student-AI Interaction Through Pedagogical Prompting: An Example in Computer Science Education
Xiao, Ruiwei
Hou, Xinying
Ye, Runlong
Kazemitabaar, Majeed
Diana, Nicholas
Liut, Michael
Stamper, John
Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
With the proliferation of large language model (LLM) applications since 2022, their use in education has sparked both excitement and concern. Recent studies consistently highlight students' (mis)use of LLMs can hinder learning outcomes. This work aims to teach students how to effectively prompt LLMs to improve their learning. We first proposed pedagogical prompting, a theoretically-grounded new concept to elicit learning-oriented responses from LLMs. To move from concept design to a proof-of-concept learning intervention in real educational settings, we selected early undergraduate CS education (CS1/CS2) as the example context. We began with a formative survey study with instructors (N=36) teaching early-stage undergraduate-level CS courses to inform the instructional design based on classroom needs. Based on their insights, we designed and developed a learning intervention through an interactive system with scenario-based instruction to train pedagogical prompting skills. Finally, we evaluated its instructional effectiveness through a user study with CS novice students (N=22) using pre/post-tests. Through mixed methods analyses, our results indicate significant improvements in learners' LLM-based pedagogical help-seeking skills, along with positive attitudes toward the system and increased willingness to use pedagogical prompts in the future. Our contributions include (1) a theoretical framework of pedagogical prompting; (2) empirical insights into current instructor attitudes toward pedagogical prompting; and (3) a learning intervention design with an interactive learning tool and scenario-based instruction leading to promising results on teaching LLM-based help-seeking. Our approach is scalable for broader implementation in classrooms and has the potential to be integrated into tools like ChatGPT as an on-boarding experience to encourage learning-oriented use of generative AI.
title Improving Student-AI Interaction Through Pedagogical Prompting: An Example in Computer Science Education
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19107