Socratic AI Tutor

The method involves using AI as a personal guide through a difficult topic. The teacher prepares a short instruction for the AI, for example asking it to pose questions, check understanding, and guide the student step by step.

Students work individually or in pairs, interacting with the AI and gradually developing their understanding of new concepts. The key element of this approach is active response and reflection.

The method has several variants. AI can guide students through a new topic, ask follow-up questions, and point out gaps in their answers. It can also simulate an oral examination. In a more advanced version, students deliberately provide an incorrect explanation, which the AI then identifies and corrects. In pair work, one student interacts with the AI while the other observes and evaluates the exchange. The teacher sets the level of difficulty and may ask the AI to use simple language and real-life examples, or to ask more demanding questions and challenge students’ answers. At the end, students summarise what they found difficult and what they have learnt from the conversation.

Course: Microeconomics
Topic: Price Elasticity of Demand
Students can often recite the definition of elasticity, but struggle to apply it in practice. Instead of attending a lecture, students configure their own AI Tutor, which guides them through a pricing simulation in a virtual shop. The AI’s task is to identify errors in students’ reasoning and, through questions, help them work out for themselves why lowering the price does not always increase revenue.

Warm-Up (10 min)
The teacher introduces the general concept. In pairs, students think of one product whose price has little influence on their purchasing decisions, such as medicine or salt, and one where any price increase would discourage them from buying it, such as a specific brand of crisps.

Tutor Configuration (10 min)
Students paste a previously prepared prompt into the chatbot, for example:
Act as a patient economics teacher. Your aim is to help me understand price elasticity of demand. Do not give me ready-made definitions. Ask me one question at a time, analyse my answers, and guide me if I make mistakes. Start with a simple real-life example.

Dialogue Session (20 min)
Students conduct the dialogue. They must actively listen to the bot’s responses and adapt their communication in order to calm Jan down and persuade him to accept a new development path.

Synthesis (15 min)
Students ask the AI to summarise their conversation. They then return to the class forum and share the most difficult question their AI Tutor asked them.

Final Reflection (5 min)
Ask students to write a short note: What did I understand thanks to the AI’s questions?

• With abstract and multi-layered topics.
• When students feel uncomfortable admitting in front of the group that they do not understand something.
• As preparation before class (flipped classroom), helping students come to class with a basic understanding of the topic.

• When time is limited and the aim is to communicate facts quickly.
• With very recent scientific discoveries, where AI may not have reliable data and may hallucinate.

• Students may try to force AI to provide ready-made answers → provide a tested starter prompt.
• AI may reinforce students’ incorrect reasoning → require students to compare their key conclusions with the course script or textbook.

Easier → Ask AI to explain the topic in simple language and provide examples from everyday life.
More Challenging → The student presents AI with an incorrect explanation, and AI has to identify the mistake and engage in a substantive discussion or debate.

• Ask AI to ask after each response: “What are the counterarguments to what you have just said?”
• Instruct students not to send long blocks of text, but to maintain a short, dynamic dialogue.
• Ask them to export the conversation history as evidence of the process of developing understanding.

Formative Assessment
Monitor the student’s interaction with the bot. Review selected conversation logs, for example those shared on Padlet or printed out. Pay attention to whether the student was able to move beyond an error after a guiding question and showed determination in exploring the topic, rather than asking for a ready-made answer.

Summative Assessment
After the AI Tutor session, ask the student to prepare a short paragraph or record an audio summary explaining a complex issue without using jargon.