Building and Utilizing a Specialized Chatbot in Physics Education – Experiment and Results

This article presents an experiment involving the development and using of a specialized chatbot, named PhysicsGPT, in physics education. The experiment was conducted with 7th-grade students during their study of the topic "Light and Sound". PhysicsGPT was created using the Zapier platform, which allows for the creation of chatbots without programming. The chatbot provides students with personalized guidance, examples, and facts, assisting them in understanding the material. The study involved 22 students who used PhysicsGPT to develop coursework on a topic related to the total internal reflection of light. A survey of students' opinions revealed that they highly valued the chatbot's usefulness and ease of use. A significant portion of the students found the information provided to be relevant and easy to understand. The analysis uncovered a moderate correlation between the chatbot's ease of use and its perceived usefulness, as well as between the understanding of the lesson and the overall impression of working with the chatbot.