aceExploring the Impact of Generative AI ChatGPT on Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Passive AI-Directed Use or Human–AI Supported Collaboration?
Generative AI is weaving into the fabric of many human aspects through its transformative power to mimic human-generated content. It is not a mere technology; it functions as a generative virtual assistant, raising concerns about its impact on cognition and critical thinking. This mixed-methods study investigates how GenAI ChatGPT affects critical thinking across cognitive presence (CP) phases. Forty students from a four-year university in the southwestern United States completed a survey; six provided their Cha…
When used with guidance in collaborative human-AI interaction, ChatGPT helped university students complete all four cognitive presence phases and enhanced critical thinking, with self-reported improvements in triggering, exploration, and integration.
When used in passive AI-directed mode, ChatGPT left students neutral at the resolution stage of cognitive presence, creating a resolution gap in critical thinking development.
Findings rest on a small, single-site sample and self-reported survey data, with only six scripts and two interviews, limiting generalizability beyond this context.
Evidence
- Peer-reviewedEducation Sciences2025-09-11
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Truvace Impact Record TRV-2026-1312, v1: “Exploring the Impact of Generative AI ChatGPT on Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Passive AI-Directed Use or Human–AI Supported Collaboration?.” Truvace, 2026-10-08. /record/TRV-2026-1312 (accessed at citation time). sha256 5d54219da4c8f536…
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