A Qualitative Study on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Middle School Students' Interdisciplinary Learning Processes in History Education

Abstract

The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has created new opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. However, extant research has predominantly concentrated on STEM disciplines, with limited empirical evidence focusing on history education, especially at the middle school level. Situated in middle school history classrooms, this qualitative study investigated how AI tools shape eighth-grade students' interdisciplinary learning processes. Participants included 20 eighth-grade students and one teacher from a public middle school in Beijing. Data were collected from multiple sources: semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and student artifact analysis. The findings demonstrated that AI holds substantial potential for breaking down disciplinary barriers, expanding access to learning resources, and boosting learning motivation, thus supporting broader knowledge integration and more active resource use during the intervention. In particular, students with moderate academic performance exhibited more active interdisciplinary inquiry behaviors and greater perceived gains in knowledge integration and problem-solving when using AI tools. Nevertheless, the results also revealed key limitations: AI did not automatically support deep knowledge integration, it proved unable to replace teachers' value guidance, and it was associated with passive reliance on AI outputs among certain students. Students at different academic levels exhibited markedly varied AI usage behaviors. The study further indicated that teachers' structured task design and critical guidance were essential for AI to yield its positive effects. This study provides empirical evidence for the integration of AI into history education and proposes that a new pedagogical ecosystem of human-AI collaboration should be established in the future, one that upholds the essential nurturing purpose of education while judiciously harnessing the empowering potential of technology.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence (AI); Interdisciplinary Learning; Learning Processes; Middle School History Education; Human-AI Collaboration

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/17-7-03

Publication date: July 30^th 2026