Supporting or Replacing Students'Reasoning? Cognitive Offloading in AI-Assisted Proof Learning
TL;DR
A mediation analysis showed a significant indirect association linking lower baseline self-efficacy to greater chatbot use and, in turn, lower exam scores, raising concerns that students may use the chatbot to offload their cognitive reasoning.
Abstract
We studied 153 students in an undergraduate proof-based mathematics course with staggered-access to an AI support system. Students were randomly assigned to receive an AI chatbot and a homework-feedback interface earlier or later in the course. During the period when only the early-access group had access, their homework scores were 2.56 points higher, but exam performance did not differ significantly between groups, suggesting that improved AI-supported homework performance did not translate into detectable gains on a subsequent exam. After all students received access, every additional 100 messages sent to the AI chatbot was associated with a 3.02-point lower score on the subsequent exam. A mediation analysis showed a significant indirect association linking lower baseline self-efficacy to greater chatbot use and, in turn, lower exam scores: a one-point decrease in self-efficacy corresponded to 0.62 fewer exam points through chatbot use. These findings raise concerns that students may use the chatbot to offload their cognitive reasoning. Use of the homework-feedback interface, which required students to submit their proof attempts before receiving feedback, was not negatively associated with exam performance. We recommend against using a chatbot for AI tutoring and suggest exploring a tutor embedded in the course activities.
