Engineering Students’ Initial Use Schemes of ChatGPT as an Instrument for Learning

Abstract ChatGPT is a new technological tool with the potential to impact education. Using Vergnaud’s notion of “use schemes,” we analyzed three interviews with engineering students who discovered ChatGPT and started to develop initial utilization schemes of the tool. Results showed that there were three domains of use of ChatGPT: (a) in mathematics/engineering; (b) for general academic purposes; and (c) in the students’ personal lives. Domain (a), with a focus on mathematical modelling, has a relation to mathematics education. Students used ChatGPT to foster their conceptual understanding, to find alternative modelling strategies, to translate mathematical models to computer code, and to optimize this computer code. The students developed a critical attitude in relation to the limitations of the tool and, according to the interview data, their schemes developed over time. The interview data show some evidence for the emergence of a hybrid form of learning in which ChatGPT became a co-agent of learning, an interactive resource with which the students could discuss their ideas. We consider the case as a positive example of how ChatGPT can contribute to student agency in education and support the development of knowledge and student competencies.