Generative AI as a tool to foster collective mathematical discussions in primary school classrooms

With this work, we present a pilot study examining how generative AI (GenAI) can be used as a tool to foster collective mathematical discussion in primary school classrooms. The study is ongoing with ten 4th -grade and 5th -grade classrooms. It explores the potential of GenAI to help primary students, through a guided discussion developed while interacting with the tool, to produce argumentations and discover the notions and properties of geometrical transformations. The analysis of our early results shows how when students are involved in formulating prompts to be given to a GenAI system and in interpreting its feedback, they are engaged in mathematical discussions that can allow them to construct mathematical meanings. Results highlight the need to further investigate the impact of a stable guided use of GenAI on students’ proficiency in using it as a personal learning aid.