Large Language Models for Education: From Problem Solving to Teaching Problem Solving

Latest developments in Large Language Models (LLMs) have elicited a divided response among educators, marked by enthusiasm for their potential as well as apprehension over their actual benefits in learning. Studies have shown that while many students are already using these models, nearly half of these interactions are student attempts to directly seek answers, undermining the productive struggle needed for learning and leading to potential deficits in cognitive development (famously dubbed “the cognitive debt of AI”). In this talk, I will present my group's vision towards addressing this grand challenge by training language models that incorporate pedagogical theories from learning science and are designed to teach (and not just provide answers), spot student mistakes, understand their de