“He Seems So Real, but Should I Trust Him?”: Fostering Critical Thinking Through Dialogues with a GAI Agent in Middle School History Class

Abstract

Against the backdrop of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) increasingly penetrating secondary education, especially history instruction, existing studies have explored GAI’s educational potential and its effects on learning outcomes, yet most focus on overall instructional efficacy rather than the nuanced, process-based dynamics of dialogue between students and GAI in history classrooms. Few qualitative inquiries examine how students engage with AI-generated historical narratives, negotiate trust, and enact critical practices during real-time interactions. This qualitative case study of 15 seventh-grade students from a Beijing middle school explores what triggers students’ critical awareness, their verification strategies for GAI information, and their balance between artificial intelligence(AI) use and independent thinking, aiming to inform historical critical thinking development in AI-enhanced history education. Data were collected via classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, student reflection journals, teaching journals, and researcher reflection journals, and analyzed through thematic analysis. Results show that factual errors, logical inconsistencies, vague expressions, and perspective biases in GAI responses, as well as inconsistencies with prior knowledge, trigger skepticism; students use various verification strategies, including textbook cross-checking, authoritative document referencing, peer discussion and teacher consultation. While GAI dialogue fosters multi-perspective reasoning and evidence-seeking skills, it also risks cognitive dependence and uncritical acceptance of AI content. The findings conclude that GAI serves as a catalyst for middle school students’ historical critical thinking under deliberate pedagogical guidance, providing theoretical and practical implications for GAI-integrated history teaching in the digital era.

Keywords: Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), Critical thinking, Human-AI dialogue, Middle School History Education

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/17-6-16

Publication date: June 30^th 2026