Embracing AI in Education: Understanding the Surge in Large Language Model Use by Secondary Students
This research addresses the problem of understanding LLM adoption in education to inform developers and educators, particularly for underserved communities, but it is incremental as it primarily reports survey findings without new methods.
The study surveyed over 300 secondary students and found that 70% have used large language models (LLMs) for subjects like language arts and math, despite school restrictions, but noted issues with hallucinations and incorrect answers.
The impressive essay writing and problem-solving capabilities of large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI's ChatGPT have opened up new avenues in education. Our goal is to gain insights into the widespread use of LLMs among secondary students to inform their future development. Despite school restrictions, our survey of over 300 middle and high school students revealed that a remarkable 70% of students have utilized LLMs, higher than the usage percentage among young adults, and this percentage remains consistent across 7th to 12th grade. Students also reported using LLMs for multiple subjects, including language arts, history, and math assignments, but expressed mixed thoughts on their effectiveness due to occasional hallucinations in historical contexts and incorrect answers for lack of rigorous reasoning. The survey feedback called for LLMs better adapted for students, and also raised questions to developers and educators on how to help students from underserved communities leverage LLMs' capabilities for equal access to advanced education resources. We propose a few ideas to address such issues, including subject-specific models, personalized learning, and AI classrooms.