STEM Education Institute Seminar: What GenAI means for physics education and research

STEM Education Institute Seminar: What GenAI means for physics education

Speaker: Natasha G. Holmes, Ann S. Bowers Associate Professor of Physics, Cornell University

Abstract:

Generative AI is transforming physics education by reshaping how we teach, learn, and assess student understanding. While concerns about academic integrity and student writing are front and center, genAI also creates unprecedented opportunities for research. For the first time, education researchers can evaluate open-ended student responses at scale, enabling large, multi-institutional studies that capture the richness of student thinking beyond multiple-choice formats. I will present what I think it means to conduct research on physics teaching and learning in the age of genAI. We will consider both opportunities and challenges: integrating genAI into classroom practice and responsibly analyzing student work at scale. Instead of trying to fight it, we'll consider how to work with it—harnessing genAI to advance science education research in ways that are both innovative and responsible.