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AI-Enhanced Problem-Based Learning Framework: Integrating ChatGPT as Adaptive Scaffolding to Improve Critical Thinking and Personalized Learning

◐ medium · 2026-08-20 · problem-based-learning, generative-ai, scaffolding, critical-thinking, personalized-learning, k-12, chatgpt

Synthesis: La Sunra, Amaliah, & Radhiyani (2026) examine an AI-Enhanced Problem-Based Learning (AIPBL) framework that integrates ChatGPT as adaptive scaffolding to improve critical thinking and support personalized learning. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design with 120 eighth-grade students across four junior high schools in Makassar, they find a large, significant improvement in critical thinking — from 60.3 (SD 9.7) to 73.5 (SD 10.4), t(119) = 9.64, p < .001, d = 1.00 — with notable gains in analysis, inference, and bias detection. Qualitative analysis shows ChatGPT supported idea exploration, strengthened verification habits, and enhanced reflection and metacognitive monitoring, without producing passive dependence.

Key Findings

  • Large critical thinking gains. Overall critical thinking scores rose from 60.3 (SD 9.7) to 73.5 (SD 10.4), t(119) = 9.64, p < .001, d = 1.00 — a large effect — with notable gains in analysis, inference, and bias detection.
  • Four qualitative patterns. ChatGPT supported idea exploration, strengthened students' verification habits, enhanced reflection and metacognitive monitoring, and — crucially — did not lead to passive dependence when embedded in structured PBL.
  • ChatGPT as adaptive scaffolding. The educational value of ChatGPT depends on how it is used: it functions as a learning partner when embedded in structured PBL and guided by teachers, rather than as a standalone answer machine.
  • Personalized learning support. The framework used ChatGPT to tailor scaffolding to individual student needs, supporting personalized learning within a problem-based format.
  • Agency preserved. The study offers practical evidence that ChatGPT can be integrated in secondary classrooms without reducing student agency.

Study Design & Method

An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study with 120 eighth-grade students from four junior high schools in Ujung Pandang District, Makassar. The quantitative phase used a one-group pre-test–post-test design to measure whether students' critical thinking changed after the AIPBL intervention (with ChatGPT as adaptive scaffolding); the qualitative phase examined how students used ChatGPT. This design captured both the extent of improvement and the process behind it.

Implications for AI in Education

For secondary education, the study provides evidence that generative AI can be integrated productively when embedded in a structured, teacher-guided Pedagogy like problem-based learning — functioning as adaptive scaffolding that strengthens critical thinking rather than substituting for it. It counters the assumption that AI use in classrooms necessarily reduces agency, showing instead that design and facilitation determine whether ChatGPT becomes a learning partner or a shortcut. The findings connect to the wiki's Scaffolding and over-reliance literature: the framework's structure is what prevents passive dependence.

Connected Concepts

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Citation

La Sunra, S., Amaliah, S., & Radhiyani, F. (2026). AI-enhanced problem-based learning framework: integrating ChatGPT as adaptive scaffolding to improve critical thinking and personalized learning. JEELS, 13(2).