Through the looking glass: a synthesis of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on pedagogy paradigms facilitated by large language models

Abstract With several fragmented literature reviews and meta-analyses on Large-Language Models (LLMs) in education, this study provides a synthesis of these reviews focusing on the role of LLMs to facilitate different pedagogy paradigms to reveal research trends, existing gaps, and future directions. The synthesis adheres to the PRISMA guidelines and AMSTAR checklist to analyze 50 reviews to find out the trends of research in terms of publication year, geographic regions, types of reviews, types of research questions, pedagogy paradigms addressed, and challenges encountered. Findings revealed that constructivism, cognitivism, and connectivism emerged as the most frequently addressed paradigms, indicating the role of LLMs as (i) tools for learning discovery or scaffolding, where learners actively construct knowledge, (ii) tools to improve cognitive tasks (e.g., recall, comprehension, problem-solving), or (iii) tools to facilitate connections between diverse knowledge sources or enable networked learning environments. Additionally, several challenges emerge, which are related to cognitive load and processing, accuracy and comprehension, cultural sensitivity and diversity, learner autonomy and self-expression, among others. This study offers valuable insights into the evolving roles of LLMs in facilitating paradigms that contribute to a deeper understanding of the pedagogical implications, challenges, and opportunities presented by LLM adoption in education.