An Enhanced AI Chatbot to Facilitate Learning Performance in a Virtual 3D Chemistry Laboratory

To avoid the dangers brought about by students when operating unfamiliar chemical experiments, and to improve students’ understanding of the experimental procedures and safety of chemical experiments before they enter the laboratory, this study constructs a virtual 3D chemistry laboratory to facilitate active exploration of chemical concepts and procedural understanding through lifelike simulations, eliminating the need for physical materials and equipment and reducing costs and environmental impact associated with traditional physical chemistry laboratory. Moreover, this study presents an enhanced artificial intelligence chatbot (EAIC) that integrates the capabilities of ChatGPT and Rasa to assist teachers in guiding numerous students to promote autonomous learning performance in the virtual 3D chemistry laboratory concurrently. To confirm the effects of the virtual 3D chemistry laboratory with an EAIC as a virtual tutor, this study examines whether the experimental group using the laboratory with an EAIC and the control group using the laboratory without an EAIC differ in learning performance, learning mode satisfaction, and technology acceptance. Additionally, a usability questionnaire was used to investigate the experimental group’s perception of the EAIC’s suitability as an instructional aid tool within the virtual laboratory setting. Experimental results show that learners in the experimental group had significantly higher learning mode satisfaction, overall technology acceptance, and perceived usefulness of technology acceptance than those of the control group. However, there were no significant differences in learning performance and perceived ease of use, indicating that both groups have equal learning performance and friendly use perception in the user interfaces. Additionally, the experimental group’s learners expressed satisfaction with the EAIC’s interactions regarding ongoing conversation, ease of understanding, offering an appropriate amount of information, and high response speed, but suggested improving its context tracking, accuracy, and dialogue clarity during conversational processes. This study brings a significant advancement in computer-assisted chemistry education, demonstrating the potential benefits of a virtual 3D chemistry laboratory with the support of an EAIC in science education.