Analyzing Student Use of Spacing and Interleaving Strategies in Interactions with GenAI-Powered Chatbots in Programming Courses

Rodrigo Prestes Machado, Carlos Alario-Hoyos, Patricia Callejo, Iria Estévez-Ayres, Carlos Delgado Kloos

2025

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze prompts of programming students with a chatbot powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, enhanced with the Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) technique, within the context of a Java programming course. The focus was on students using two metacognitive strategies: interleaving and spacing. Student prompts were categorized into eight categories along with their respective study topics. Findings revealed that the categories and markers of spacing and interleaving were important in identifying study sessions with the chatbot. However, students showed limited intentional application of these learning strategies. These results highlight the need for more comprehensive guidance on leveraging AI tools to improve learning outcomes.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Machado R., Alario-Hoyos C., Callejo P., Estévez-Ayres I. and Kloos C. (2025). Analyzing Student Use of Spacing and Interleaving Strategies in Interactions with GenAI-Powered Chatbots in Programming Courses. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU; ISBN 978-989-758-746-7, SciTePress, pages 273-280. DOI: 10.5220/0013272000003932

in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu25,
author={Rodrigo Machado and Carlos Alario-Hoyos and Patricia Callejo and Iria Estévez-Ayres and Carlos Kloos},
title={Analyzing Student Use of Spacing and Interleaving Strategies in Interactions with GenAI-Powered Chatbots in Programming Courses},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU},
year={2025},
pages={273-280},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013272000003932},
isbn={978-989-758-746-7},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU
TI - Analyzing Student Use of Spacing and Interleaving Strategies in Interactions with GenAI-Powered Chatbots in Programming Courses
SN - 978-989-758-746-7
AU - Machado R.
AU - Alario-Hoyos C.
AU - Callejo P.
AU - Estévez-Ayres I.
AU - Kloos C.
PY - 2025
SP - 273
EP - 280
DO - 10.5220/0013272000003932
PB - SciTePress