Investigating the (self-perceived) influence of GenAI on the intellectual virtues of K-12 students

The introduction of Generative AI (GenAI) into education has disrupted long-standing practices and challenges epistemic norms in the classroom. This article researches the influence of GenAI in education using virtue epistemology and seeks to understand ‘what are the (self-perceived) influences of GenAI on the intellectual virtues of K-12 students?’.

Students identify important technological affordances of GenAI as they describe the benefits of GenAI in terms of efficiency, specificity and ease. The findings suggest that the reliance on these technological affordances can disrupt moments during which students can practice intellectual virtues. Furthermore, there are indications of changing attitudes pertaining these moments, which are understood and critiqued through the sphere transgressions framework. Using this framework the benefits of efficiency, specificity (optimization) and ease can be understood as archetypical digital values around which the students orient themselves. This risk corrupting or crowding out values constitutive of the sphere of education, including the cultivation of intellectual virtues.

The following influences were identified: The affordances of efficiency and specificity reduce opportunities for students to cultivate the intellectual virtues of attentiveness and curiosity, as students seem to interpret contextual information as inefficient. The affordance of ease disrupts practices related to intellectual tenacity, as students use GenAI to circumvent moments of struggle and uncertainty. These moments are experienced as uneasy and considered unnecessary as complex cognitive tasks can be offloaded to GenAI. Finally, concerning intellectual carefulness and humility, students express skepticism towards GenAI and using it, nonetheless, they are unable to use the technology accordingly.

This article adds to the literature on virtue epistemology in education, as it uses qualitative research methods to discover disruptive influences of GenAI on the cultivation of intellectual virtues of students.

Part of panel: Digitalization as sphere transgression - part 2