Keynote Address

Title: Rethinking Chemistry Triplet in the Era of Generative Artificial Intelligence: Facilitating Chemistry Learning with a New Educational Agent 

Synopsis

Nowadays, our worldview is being reshaped by soaring artificial intelligence (AI) technology as it transforms our understanding of learning and how science is being done, as exemplified in 2024 Nobel Prizes in Physics (artificial neural network) and Chemistry (AlphaFold). Chemistry educators, who are committed to the disciplinary field, are obliged to respond to these cha(lle)nges both in idea and practice. In this talk, we first discuss why AI is significant for chemistry education. After briefly reviewing the Chemistry Triplet (ChemT) and the potential of generative AI as an educational agent, we explore how generative AI can help students with chemistry learning in terms of the ChemT. Specifically, the relationships between the three apexes in the ChemT (macro, sub-micro, and symbolic), translations between them, and how chemistry learning could be facilitated by the affordances of generative AI will be addressed. Finally, we will envision the standpoint of chemistry education in the era of generative AI, in light of Michael Polanyi’s notion of personal knowledge.

About the speaker

Gyeonggeon Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Natural Sciences and Science Education Group at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He earned his Ph.D. in Science Education from Seoul National University in South Korea in 2023, where he also received his B.Sc. in Chemistry Education and B.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering in 2016. Before joining NTU, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the AI4STEM Education Center at the University of Georgia, USA, from 2023 to 2024.

His recent research focuses on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into science education, encompassing automatic assessment, human-AI collaboration in learning, and lab safety management. His previous research publications have covered various topics, including the history and philosophy of science education, curriculum studies, blended learning, and electrochemistry. Through the interdisciplinarity enabled by AI, he aims to establish multimodal science learning to fulfil whole-person science education.