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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Comparative Education

Introduction, general overviews.

• The Early Stage
• The 19th Century
• The 20th Century to the Present
• Education and Development
• A Codified Body of Theory and Knowledge Informing the Field
• Shifts in Paradigms
• The Case Study Approach versus Large-Scale Research
• Complexity, Continua, and Transitions
• International Testing Regimes
• Higher Education Programs and Professional Societies
• Scholarly Journals and Publications
• International and Regional Education Databanks and Statistics

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Comparative Education by Robert Arnove , Stephen Franz , Patricia K. Kubow LAST REVIEWED: 29 May 2019 LAST MODIFIED: 29 May 2019 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0152

Comparative education is a loosely bounded field that examines the sources, workings, and outcomes of education systems, as well as leading education issues, from comprehensive, multidisciplinary, cross-national, and cross-cultural perspectives. Despite the diversity of approaches to studying relations between education and society, Arnove, et al. 1992 (cited under General Overviews ) maintains that the field is held together by a fundamental belief that education can be improved and can serve to bring about change for the better in all nations. The authors further note that comparative inquiry often has sought to discover how changes in educational provision, form, and content might contribute to the eradication of poverty or the end of gender-, class-, and ethnic-based inequities. A belief in the transformative power of education systems is aligned with three principal dimensions of the field. Arnove 2013 (cited under General Overviews ) designates these dimensions as scientific/theoretical, pragmatic/ameliorative, and global/international understanding and peace. According to Farrell 1979 (cited under General Overviews ), the scientific dimension of the field relates to theory building with comparison being absolutely essential to understanding what relationships pertain under what conditions among variables in the education system and society. Bray and Thomas 1995 (cited under General Overviews ) point out that comparison enables researchers to look at the entire world as a natural laboratory in viewing the multiple ways in which societal factors, educational policies, and practices may vary and interact in otherwise unpredictable and unimaginable ways. With regard to the pragmatic dimension, comparative educators have studied other societies to learn what works well and why. At the inception of study of comparative education as a mode of inquiry in the 19th century, pioneer Marc-Antoine Jullien de Paris (b. 1775–d. 1848) aimed at not only informing and improving educational policy, but also contributing to greater international understanding. According to Giddens 1991 , Rivzi and Lingard 2010 , and Carney 2009 (all cited under General Overviews ), international understanding has become an even more important feature of comparative education as processes of globalization increasingly require people to recognize how socioeconomic forces, emanating from what were previously considered distant and remote areas of the world, impinge upon their daily lives. The priority given to each of these dimensions varies not only across individuals but also across national and regional boundaries and epistemic communities. Yamada 2015 (cited under General Overviews ), for example, finds notable differences between the discourses and practices of North American and Japanese researchers, with the former tending to locate their research in existing theories and the latter trying to understand a particular situation before eventually finding patterns or elements applicable to a wider situation. Takayama 2011 (cited under General Overviews ) notes that one reason for differences in research traditions is the Japanese emphasis on area studies. The evolution of comparative education as a scholarly endeavor reflects changes in theories, research methodologies, and events on the world stage that have required more sophisticated responses to understanding transformations occurring within and across societies.

The references cited here include leading English-language textbooks in the field that introduce readers to the principal dimensions of comparative education, including its contributions to theory building, more informed and enlightened educational policy and practice, and international understanding and world peace. They illustrate the increasing focus of the field on how globalization impacts national education systems and, in turn, are refracted and changed by local contexts. Japan, which has one of the longest traditions of comparative studies, is included to point out differences in scholarly traditions.

Arnove, Robert F. 2013. Introduction: Reframing comparative education; The dialectic of the global and the local. In Comparative education: The dialectic of the global and the local . 4th ed. Edited by Robert F. Arnove, Carlos Alberto Torres, and Stephen Franz, 1–26. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

The global economy and the increasing interconnectedness of societies pose shared challenges for education worldwide. Understanding the tensions between the global and the local is necessary to reframing the field of comparative education. The global-local dialectic is explored in relation to Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States.

Arnove, Robert F., Philip G. Altbach, and Gail P. Kelly. 1992. Introduction. In Emergent issues in education . Edited by Robert F. Arnove, Philip G. Altbach, and Gail P. Kelly, 1–10. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press.

The three editors/authors discuss how the book reflects the field as it emerged in the 1990s. They review the debates over theory that have remained unresolved since they emerged in the 1960s. Issues examined include modernization without Westernization, the role of international donor agencies, the reform of educational governance, public-private relations, the changing patterns of higher education, the education of girls and women, the professionalization of teaching, and the nature of literacy campaigns.

Bray, Mark, and R. Murray Thomas. 1995. Levels of comparison in educational studies: Different insights from different literatures and the value of multilevel analysis. Harvard Educational Review 65.3: 474–491.

DOI: 10.17763/haer.65.3.g3228437224v4877

The initial conceptual framework provided by Bray and Thomas constitutes a seminal contribution to comparative education that alerts scholars to the importance of multilevel units of analysis along three dimensions: geographic/local units (ranging from world/regions/ continents to that of schools/classrooms/individuals); nonlocational demographic units (ranging from ethnic/age/religious/gender groups to entire populations); and aspects of education and society (typically subjects studied, such as curriculum, teaching methods, educational finance, and management structures).

Carney, Stephen. 2009. Negotiating policy in an age of globalization: Exploring educational “policyscapes” in Denmark, Nepal, and China. Comparative Education Review 53.1: 63–68.

DOI: 10.1086/593152

The author explores the processes of policy implementation in Denmark, Nepal, and China. Carney introduces the notion of “policyscape” (one of “hyper-neoliberalism”) as a common context for understanding change efforts at different levels of education in particular localities.

Farrell, Joseph P. 1979. The necessity of comparison in educational studies: Different insights from the salience of science and the problem of comparability. Comparative Education Review 23.1: 3–16.

DOI: 10.1086/446010

In this presidential address, Farrell affirms that all sciences are comparative. The goal of science is not only to establish that relationships exist between variables, but also to determine the range over which they exist. Farrell makes a major contribution in discussing how variables in education-society relations may not be phenomenally identical, but they can be conceptually equivalent. A body of scholarship can be gradually constructed to establish comparative education as a disciplinary field of study.

Giddens, Anthony. 1991. The consequences of modernity . Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.

Giddens discusses the nature of social institutions at the end of the 20th century. Societies are entering a stage of “high modernity”—not post-modernity—as dominant forms of social and cultural organization have not yet been radically transformed. The current stage of world development provides previously unavailable opportunities for the well-being of humanity; however, it also poses systemic dangers resulting from totalitarian governments, degrading industrial work, environmental destruction, and militarism.

Rivzi, Fazal, and Bob Lingard. 2010. Globalizing education policy . London: Routledge.

The authors critique “the rationalist approach” to policy studies that have a narrow national focus. Instead, they offer insights into how reform trends in curriculum, pedagogy, evaluation, governance, and equity policies are located within a global framework. Their conclusions call for a new imaginary of globalization that challenges the dominance of the “neoliberal construction” of the world based in economics, while strengthening social solidarity and democratic learning within and across national borders.

Takayama, Keita. 2011. Reconceptualizing the politics of Japanese education: Reimagining comparative studies of Japanese education. In Reimagining Japanese education: Borders, transfers, circulations, and the comparative . Edited by David Blake Willis and Jeremy Rappleye, 247–285. Oxford: Symposium Books.

Takayama makes a strong case for viewing a dialogic relation between Japanese and non-Japanese research traditions that enables scholars to draw upon external transformations that have occurred in Japanese society and education in what he calls the “post-post-war time.”

Yamada, Shoko. 2015. The constituent elements of comparative education in Japan: A comparison with North America. Comparative Education Review 59.2: 234–260.

DOI: 10.1086/680172

Yamada analyzes how comparative education has been discussed and practiced in Japan, based on a questionnaire completed by members of the Japan Comparative Education Society and classification of articles published in its journal between 1975 and 2011. This information is then contrasted with North American trends identified by scholars examining research by members of the Comparative and International Education Society and articles in the Comparative Education Review (cited under Scholarly Journals and Publications ).

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Understanding Others, Educating Ourselves: Getting More from International Comparative Studies in Education (2003)

Chapter: 1 introduction and rationale, 1 introduction and rationale, introduction.

The increasing scrutiny of earlier studies has revealed their limitations and the consequent need for improvement in the planning, execution, and dissemination of international comparative research…. The lack of an adequate system of education indicators to inform education policy making has become increasingly apparent. Data are not collected regularly, systematically, or with enough coordination either to satisfy natural curiosity about education systems around the world or to answer the questions of researchers and policy makers about changes over time in education in a variety of countries. Trend data are needed on many aspects of education.

A Collaborative Agenda for Improving International Comparative Studies in Education (National Research Council, 1993, hereafter the 1993 Agenda)

By the last half of the 1990s, many concerns described in this excerpt from the 1993 Agenda of the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education had been or were well on the way to being resolved. The proposed solutions, however, produced several new, somewhat overlapping problems. Previously, there was a scarcity of data sufficiently robust to support valid cross-national comparisons; today, a glut of good-quality data overwhelms the field and remains largely unanalyzed, even as new follow-on surveys are launched. Previously, large-scale cross-national education surveys were initiated sporadically, every few years; however, between 1999 and 2003, data collection for at least one and as many as three surveys was scheduled annually.

Previously, U.S. schools faced few mandated tests, and most were willing to participate in the occasional voluntary, internationally oriented tests; today, with increased requirements for mandatory testing, increasing numbers of schools are unwilling to add to their testing burden by participating in voluntary assessments. The infrastructure for conducting large-scale international studies that has developed over the past decade, which plays an important role in ensuring the quality of large-scale international education surveys, has become institutionalized, and the desire to keep this infrastructure engaged has played a role in decisions to support new and more frequent studies. Indeed, there is an increasing concern that international assessments are now conducted more frequently than reforms can produce change in the U.S. education system, which may discourage ongoing, longer term reform efforts.

In addition, the results of large-scale domestic and international surveys are raising a host of questions that often are addressed best by smaller scale studies requiring a wide range of research methods, both qualitative and quantitative. For example, although a full series of more detailed thematic analysis of the data was commissioned before the completion of the first Programme for International Assessment of Student Achievement (PISA) 1 international report, it was of necessity carried out by researchers closely aligned with the study. Few new initiatives have been launched either to cull insight from ongoing nonsurvey-based international studies or to support systematic new ones attuned to independent research agenda.

Despite major investments in a half-dozen large-scale international surveys over the past decade, U.S. public discourse about education remains curiously untouched by international comparisons. Beyond the common knowledge that U.S. students are not first in the world in mathematics and science, educational rhetoric in the United States remains essentially one-dimensional, lacking the sense of rich possibilities that international perspectives can provide. Possible reasons for this deficiency include the general imperviousness of U.S. education policy to domestic or international education research (Lagemann, 2000), and widely shared assumptions that other areas of the world are simply not relevant to the United States. The lack both of interpretive international comparative education studies and of secondary analysis focused on issues of primary concern to the public and policy makers, however, certainly contributes

to the persistence of an inwardly focused approach to education studies in the United States.

The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 places strong emphasis on using rigorous scientific methods to study education (U.S. Congress, 2002). This act has reorganized the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement by creating the Institute of Education Sciences, which includes three centers: the National Center for Education Research, the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), one of the main U.S. funders of international comparative education research. This is an important moment to examine the nature of international comparative education research and to reaffirm its critical contribution to a well-rounded program of domestic education research in the United States.

The purpose of this report—which is directed to federal sponsors of international comparative education research, domestic and international researchers, private foundations, and state and district officials who are eager to improve their part of the U.S. education system—is to lay out the rationale for such research; describe its scope, purpose, and potential impact; and make recommendations regarding future directions. Fundamentally, international comparative studies contribute to basic education research by documenting the existence of a much broader array of educational practices and outcomes than is available in the United States alone. International studies, however, can do much more than this. The rest of this chapter explores the current rationale for U.S. participation in international comparative studies and discusses the scope of such studies. Chapter 2 outlines the range of international comparative studies and their relative costs and presents recommendations for moving toward a more balanced research agenda for these studies. Chapter 3 draws on some recent studies to illustrate different ways that international comparative studies have—or, in some cases, have not—made an impact on the U.S. education system. Chapter 4 begins by offering suggestions for continuing to improve one type of study—large-scale, cross-national surveys— with which the board has been mainly involved since its inception, and to address key issues that persist or have emerged with those types of studies since the board’s 1990 report, A Framework and Principles for International Comparative Studies in Education (National Research Council, 1990, hereafter referred to as the 1990 Framework ). It continues by addressing the pressing need for more public access to the findings of all types of international comparative studies and the consequent need for an array of studies addressing a wide range of questions that call for many different research methodologies. Chapter 5 examines the implications of recommendations from earlier chapters for supporting infrastructure, both fi-

nancial and organizational, for future international comparative studies of education. The final chapter provides a summary of the board’s recommendations.

Although many features of international data collection in educational research have changed over the past decade, at least one has not: research that provides comparative information across nations continues to expand understanding of education as a social and economic institution and provide rich sources of ideas about how nations can strengthen teaching and student achievement. Throughout its history, the U.S. education system has benefited immensely from ideas borrowed and adapted from education systems in other countries. These ideas range from methods for early childhood education (France, Germany, and Italy), a model for the structure of higher education (Germany), and goals for mass urban education (England), to the Suzuki method of teaching music (Japan).

Holmes (1985) traces the earliest efforts to observe and learn from foreign education systems to Plato’s reference to Sparta in The Republic . He dates the beginning of comparative education as a systematic study to the early 19th century. He mentions early reservations about the limitations of what is likely to be learned from such study. He cited one educator who claimed that “the practical value of studying other systems of education is that much can be learned about one’s own system of education.” His second claim was that “what goes on outside the schools matters even more than the things inside schools to an understanding of any system of education” (p. 866).

U.S. interest in international education studies has waxed and waned over the decades, but it grew particularly keen after the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued its report, A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) . That report made extensive use of findings from then-current national and international comparative studies of student achievement, portraying them in provocative terms. 2 The data cited in that report seized the interest of policy makers, who had little previous knowledge of or interest in comparative international education statistics but who subsequently evolved into strong proponents of comparative research at both state and cross-national lev-

els. 3 Some scholars, however, questioned the use of these particular international studies to judge the U.S. education system, given their imperfect sampling and other technical problems at that time. 4 Nonetheless, by 1990, the president and the governors acknowledged the importance of international perspectives in formulating domestic education policy when they defined national education goals for the nation. The United States was challenged to be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement by the turn of the century, and to ensure that every adult “will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy” (Rothman, 2002).

This focus on comparisons of achievement brought valuable attention to the potential benefits of learning about education in other countries. However, the country rankings that were so widely publicized did little to suggest the breadth of international research.

Cuban (1988) has argued that one remarkable feature of U.S. schools is how alike they are. In contrast, education systems in many other countries encompass a far greater degree of diversity. For example, there tends to be great diversity across nations regarding what citizens expect of their schools, what roles teachers play in society, and what education services governments and private organizations provide. International comparative research in education can help to expand the repertoire of possible practices and policies in several ways.

International education studies help to define what is achievable. How much can students learn and at what age can they learn it? How do different countries mix different amounts of pre-service and in-service professional development for beginning teachers at the early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary levels? How do different countries determine the optimal number of hours of schooling at each of these levels? What roles do parents with different levels of education play in governing and supporting schools? Most people would be reluctant to conduct controlled experiments with their children’s educations, but naturally oc-

curring variation in other countries can help develop more confidence in—or courage to consider changing—U.S. policies and practices. Studies such as PISA, for example, demonstrate that high average performance does not have to be associated with the wide disparities in performance found in the United States.

International comparative research can help researchers and policy makers to observe and characterize consequences of different practices and policies for different groups, under different circumstances . Research can examine correlates of various approaches (Holmes, 1985; Postlethwaite, 1999) and explore the reasons for observed differences in student performance, thus enhancing confidence in the generalizability of studies ( 1990 Framework ). It can also contribute to and possibly influence the content and direction of useful debate concerning public issues, such as teenage employment, and the terms of service of teaching, by enhancing the discourse through increasing knowledge about a wider range of alternatives and possible consequences.

International comparative studies often bring to light concepts for understanding education that have been overlooked in the United States, helping U.S. educators to think in terms of new principles and categories. The Second International Mathematics Study helped to popularize the concept of the intended, implemented, and achieved curriculum and facilitated more nuanced discussions and studies about relationships between curriculum and student achievement. A recent book highlighting the expert, “profound” understanding characteristic of Chinese elementary mathematics teachers (Ma, 1999) casts new light on layers of understanding within subject matter knowledge. PISA’s efforts to measure “preparedness for life” have led to new ways to operationalize different types of literacy.

International comparisons of education often lead us to identify and question beliefs and assumptions that are taken for granted . This contribution is sometimes characterized as making the familiar strange and the strange familiar (Kluckhohn, 1944). International comparisons help to raise questions about the universality of particular features of the U.S. education system and offer new insight into current disputes. For example, Japanese teachers can offer cogent reasons why classes of fewer than 20 students are more difficult to teach than larger classes, and why, at the preschool level, teachers often should not discipline a misbehaving student.

Large-scale cross-national surveys have received much attention in the United States in the two decades since the release of A Nation at Risk. Many of the benefits of international comparative education studies, however, are achieved by relatively small-scale, low-cost, more open-ended studies. Such studies, in addition to contributing to our understanding of

the broader range of possibilities in education, are essential precursors to large-scale studies because they help to identify contextual features of school systems that are common to many countries and can be quantitatively measured. Similarly, questions raised by counterintuitive findings of large-scale studies are often best explored by smaller scale, targeted studies.

International comparisons of education systems often produce outcomes that are not part of their original rationale but that nonetheless make valuable contributions to the improvement of U.S. education and international relations.

In an increasingly interdependent world, they provide useful insights into the socioeconomic structure of other countries and cultures. For example, the insights of comparative education scholars who, in relative obscurity, had studied religious schools in Central and South Asia became more valued at the end of 2001, when graduates of those schools attacked the United States.

The challenges posed by international studies can increase the educational research capacity of the United States as well as that of other countries ( 1990 Framework ). For example, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 5 Videotape Classroom Study helped to raise the technical sophistication of video research methods in the United States and elsewhere. Furthermore, questions of sampling, instrument design, data gathering, and data analysis that had to be addressed in the second and third international mathematics studies yielded results and experience that have been useful in national surveys of achievement.

All these benefits do not flow automatically from every study. Rather, they are more likely to result from systematic investments in a variety of studies, differing in methodology, scope, and purpose, at least some of which try to test and build on earlier findings. Simply observing and measuring apparently effective practices in other countries is not sufficient to bring about desired improvement in U.S. schools. Ideally, promising practices would undergo several rounds of study in the context of their country of origin, and in the United States, in which practitioners and researchers attempt to construct and test hypotheses about the rela-

tionship between the practice and desired outcomes in different settings. More often, informal experiments initiated by practitioners using innovations from other countries attract the attention of researchers post hoc; policy makers call on researchers to investigate promising practices; and, of course, researchers themselves may initiate exploratory studies. Instances of each of these cases are highlighted in boxes throughout the next chapter.

Since 1988, the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education (BICSE) at the (U.S.) National Research Council of the National Academies has engaged in activities designed to increase the rigor and sophistication of international comparative studies in education by encouraging synergies between large and smaller scale international comparative education research, to identify gaps in the existing research base, and to assist in communicating results to policy makers and the public. Under the current grant (1998-2002), funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, BICSE has sponsored public events and commissioned papers on the effects of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the power of video technology in international education research, international perspectives on teacher quality, and advances in the methodology of cross-national surveys of education achievement. This report responds to a request from the board's sponsors under the current grant to produce a report that builds on its previous work.

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STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE EDUCATION: ISSUES, PROCESSES AND ENGAGEMENTS

Studies in Comparative Education is an academic guide that focuses some contemporary and controversial issues associated with the field since its evolution as an academic discipline. The processes, not limited to the approaches and other requirements of engaging in the study of or researching Comparative Education in the contemporary existence were all carefully treated.

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Enhancing clinical skills in pediatric trainees: a comparative study of ChatGPT-assisted and traditional teaching methods

• Hongjun Ba 1 , 2 ,
• Lili zhang 1 &
• Zizheng Yi 1  

BMC Medical Education volume  24 , Article number:  558 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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As artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly integrates into medical education, its specific impact on the development of clinical skills among pediatric trainees needs detailed investigation. Pediatric training presents unique challenges which AI tools like ChatGPT may be well-suited to address.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of ChatGPT-assisted instruction versus traditional teaching methods on pediatric trainees’ clinical skills performance.

A cohort of pediatric trainees ( n  = 77) was randomly assigned to two groups; one underwent ChatGPT-assisted training, while the other received conventional instruction over a period of two weeks. Performance was assessed using theoretical knowledge exams and Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercises (Mini-CEX), with particular attention to professional conduct, clinical judgment, patient communication, and overall clinical skills. Trainees’ acceptance and satisfaction with the AI-assisted method were evaluated through a structured survey.

Both groups performed similarly in theoretical exams, indicating no significant difference ( p  > 0.05). However, the ChatGPT-assisted group showed a statistically significant improvement in Mini-CEX scores ( p  < 0.05), particularly in patient communication and clinical judgment. The AI-teaching approach received positive feedback from the majority of trainees, highlighting the perceived benefits in interactive learning and skill acquisition.

ChatGPT-assisted instruction did not affect theoretical knowledge acquisition but did enhance practical clinical skills among pediatric trainees. The positive reception of the AI-based method suggests that it has the potential to complement and augment traditional training approaches in pediatric education. These promising results warrant further exploration into the broader applications of AI in medical education scenarios.

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Introduction

The introduction of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022 marked a watershed moment in educational technology, heralded as the third major innovation following Web 2.0’s emergence over a decade earlier [ 1 ] and the rapid expansion of e-learning driven by the COVID-19 pandemic [ 2 ]. In medical education, the integration of state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been particularly transformative for pediatric clinical skills training—a field where AI is now at the forefront.

Pediatric training, with its intricate blend of extensive medical knowledge and soft skills like empathetic patient interaction, is pivotal for effective child healthcare. The need for swift decision-making, especially in emergency care settings, underscores the specialty’s complexity. Traditional teaching methods often fall short, hindered by logistical challenges and difficulties in providing a standardized training experience. AI tools such as ChatGPT offer a promising solution, with their ability to simulate complex patient interactions and thus improve pediatric trainees’ communication, clinical reasoning, and decision-making skills across diverse scenarios [ 3 , 4 ].

ChatGPT’s consistent, repeatable, and scalable learning experiences represent a significant advancement over traditional constraints, such as resource limitations and standardization challenges [ 5 ], offering a new paradigm for medical training. Its proficiency in providing immediate, personalized feedback could revolutionize the educational journey of pediatric interns. Our study seeks to investigate the full extent of this potential revolution, employing a mixed-methods approach to quantitatively and qualitatively measure the impact of ChatGPT on pediatric trainees’ clinical competencies.

Despite AI’s recognized potential within the academic community, empirical evidence detailing its influence on clinical skills development is limited [ 6 ]. Addressing this gap, our research aims to contribute substantive insights into the efficacy of ChatGPT in enhancing the clinical capabilities of pediatric trainees, establishing a new benchmark for the intersection of AI and medical education.

Participants and methods

Participants.

Our study evaluated the impact of ChatGPT-assisted instruction on the clinical skills of 77 medical interns enrolled in Sun Yat-sen University’s five-year program in 2023. The cohort, consisting of 42 males and 35 females, was randomly allocated into four groups based on practicum rotation, using a computer-generated randomization list. Each group, composed of 3–4 students, was assigned to either the ChatGPT-assisted or traditional teaching group for a two-week pediatric internship rotation. Randomization was stratified by baseline clinical examination scores to ensure group comparability.

Study design

A controlled experimental design was implemented with blind assessment. The interns were randomly assigned to the ChatGPT-assisted group (39 students) or the traditional group (38 students), with no significant differences in gender, age, or baseline clinical examination scores ( p  > 0.05). The ChatGPT-assisted group received instruction supplemented with ChatGPT version 4.0, while the traditional group received standard bedside teaching (as depicted in Fig.  1 ). Both groups encountered identical clinical case scenarios involving common pediatric conditions: Kawasaki disease, gastroenteritis, congenital heart disease, nephrotic syndrome, bronchopneumonia, and febrile convulsion. All interns had equal access to the same teaching materials, instructors, and intensity of courses. The core textbook was the 9th edition of “Pediatrics” published by the People’s Medical Publishing House. Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review board, and informed consent was secured, with special attention to privacy concerns due to the involvement of pediatric patient data.

Study design and flow chart

Instructional implementation

Traditional teaching group, pre-rotation preparation.

Instructors designed typical cases representing common pediatric diseases and updated knowledge on the latest diagnostic and therapeutic advancements. They developed multimedia presentations detailing the presentation, diagnostic criteria, and treatment plans for each condition.

Teaching process

The teaching method during the rotation was divided into three stages:

Case introduction and demonstration

Instructors began with a detailed introduction of clinical cases, explaining diagnostic reasoning and emphasizing key aspects of medical history-taking and physical examination techniques.

Student participation

Students then conducted patient interviews and physical assessments independently, with the instructor observing. For pediatric patients, particularly infants, history was provided by the guardians.

Feedback and discussion

At the end of each session, instructors provided personalized feedback on student performance and answered questions, fostering an interactive learning environment.

ChatGPT-assisted teaching group

Educators prepared structured teaching plans focusing on common pediatric diseases and representative cases. The preparation phase involved configuring ChatGPT (version 4.0) settings to align with the educational objectives of the rotation.

The rotation was executed in four consecutive steps:

ChatGPT orientation

Students were familiarized with the functionalities and potential educational applications of ChatGPT version 4.0.

ChatGPT-driven tasks

In our study, ChatGPT version 4.0 was used as a supplementary educational tool within the curriculum. Students engaged with the AI to interactively explore dynamically generated clinical case vignettes based on pediatric medicine. These vignettes encompassed clinical presentations, history taking, physical examinations, diagnostic strategies, differential diagnoses, and treatment protocols, allowing students to query the AI to enhance their understanding of various clinical scenarios.

Students accessed clinical vignettes in both text and video formats, with video particularly effective in demonstrating physical examination techniques and communication strategies with guardians, thereby facilitating a more interactive learning experience.

ChatGPT initially guided students in forming assessments, while educators critically reviewed their work, providing immediate, personalized feedback to ensure proper development of clinical reasoning and decision-making skills. This blend of AI and direct educator involvement aimed to improve learning outcomes by leveraging AI’s scalability alongside expert educators’ insights.

Bedside clinical practice

Students practiced history-taking and physical examinations at the patient’s bedside, with information about infants provided by their guardians.

Feedback and inquiry

Instructors offered feedback on performance and addressed student queries to reinforce learning outcomes.

Assessment methods

The methods used to evaluate the interns’ post-rotation performance included three assessment tools:

Theoretical knowledge exam

Both groups completed the same closed-book exam to test their pediatric theoretical knowledge, ensuring consistency in cognitive understanding assessment.

Mini-CEX assessment

The Mini-CEX has been widely recognized as an effective and reliable method for assessing clinical skills [ 7 , 8 ]. Practical skills were evaluated using the Mini-CEX, which involved students taking histories from parents of pediatric patients and conducting physical examinations on infants, supervised by an instructor. Mini-CEX scoring utilized a nine-point scale with seven criteria, assessing history-taking, physical examination, professionalism, clinical judgment, doctor-patient communication, organizational skills, and overall competence.

History taking

This assessment measures students’ ability to accurately collect patient histories, utilize effective questioning techniques, respond to non-verbal cues, and exhibit respect, empathy, and trust, while addressing patient comfort, dignity, and confidentiality.

Physical examination

This evaluates students on informing patients about examination procedures, conducting examinations in an orderly sequence, adjusting examinations based on patient condition, attending to patient discomfort, and ensuring privacy.

Professionalism

This assesses students’ demonstration of respect, compassion, and empathy, establishment of trust, attention to patient comfort, maintenance of confidentiality, adherence to ethical standards, understanding of legal aspects, and recognition of their professional limits.

Clinical judgment

This includes evaluating students’ selection and execution of appropriate diagnostic tests and their consideration of the risks and benefits of various treatment options.

Doctor-patient communication

This involves explaining test and treatment rationales, obtaining patient consent, educating on disease management, and discussing issues effectively and timely based on disease severity.

Organizational efficiency

This measures how students prioritize based on urgency, handle patient issues efficiently, demonstrate integrative skills, understand the healthcare system, and effectively use resources for optimal service.

Overall competence

This assesses students on judgment, integration, and effectiveness in patient care, evaluating their overall capabilities in caring and efficiency.

The scale ranged from below expectations (1–3 points), meeting expectations (4–6 points), to exceeding expectations (7–9 points). To maintain assessment consistency, all Mini-CEX evaluations were conducted by a single assessor.

ChatGPT method feedback survey

Only for the ChatGPT-assisted group, the educational impact of the ChatGPT teaching method was evaluated post-rotation through a questionnaire. This survey used a self-assessment scale with a Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of 0.812, confirming its internal consistency and reliability. Assessment items involved active learning engagement, communication skills, empathy, retention of clinical knowledge, and improvement in diagnostic reasoning. Participant satisfaction was categorized as (1) very satisfied, (2) satisfied, (3) neutral, or (4) dissatisfied.

Statistical analysis

Data were analyzed using R software (version 4.2.2) and SPSS (version 26.0). Descriptive statistics were presented as mean ± standard deviation (x ± s), and independent t-tests were performed to compare groups. Categorical data were presented as frequency and percentage (n[%]), with chi-square tests applied where appropriate. A P -value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. All assessors of the Mini-CEX were blinded to the group assignments to minimize bias.

Theoretical knowledge exam scores for both groups of trainees

The theoretical knowledge exam revealed comparable results between the two groups, with the ChatGPT-assisted group achieving a mean score of 92.21 ± 2.37, and the traditional teaching group scoring slightly higher at 92.38 ± 2.68. Statistical analysis using an independent t-test showed no significant difference in the exam scores (t = 0.295, p  = 0.768), suggesting that both teaching methods similarly supported the trainees’ theoretical learning.

Mini-CEX evaluation results for both groups of trainees

All trainees completed the Mini-CEX evaluation in 38 ± 0.5 min on average, with immediate post-evaluation feedback averaging 5.8 ± 0.6 min per student. The ChatGPT group demonstrated statistically significant improvement in professional conduct, clinical judgment, patient communication, and overall clinical skills compared to the traditional group. A detailed comparison of the CEX scoring for both student groups is presented in Table  1 ; Fig.  2 .

The scale scores of Mini-CEX assessment between the two groups. A : ChatGPT-assisted group; B : Traditional teaching group

Satisfaction survey results of trainees in the ChatGPT-assisted teaching

Feedback from the trainees regarding the ChatGPT-assisted teaching method was overwhelmingly positive. High levels of satisfaction and interest were reported, with no instances of dissatisfaction noted. The summary of these findings, including specific aspects of the teaching method that were rated highly by the students, is detailed in Table  2 .

The integration of ChatGPT into pediatric medical education represents a significant stride in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the learning process. Our findings suggest that while AI does not substantially alter outcomes in theoretical knowledge assessments, it plays a pivotal role in the advancement of clinical competencies.

The parity in theoretical examination scores between the ChatGPT-assisted and traditionally taught groups indicates that foundational medical knowledge can still be effectively acquired through existing educational frameworks. This underscores the potential of ChatGPT as a complementary, rather than a substitutive, educational instrument [ 9 , 10 ].

Mini-CEX evaluations paint a different picture, revealing the ChatGPT group’s superior performance in clinical realms. These competencies are crucial for the comprehensive development of a pediatrician and highlight the value of an interactive learning environment in bridging the gap between theory and practice [ 11 , 12 ].

The unanimous satisfaction with ChatGPT-assisted learning points to AI’s capacity to enhance student engagement. This positive response could be attributed to the personalized and interactive nature of the AI experience, catering to diverse learning styles [ 13 , 14 ]. However, it is critical to consider the potential for overreliance on technology and the need for maintaining an appropriate balance between AI and human interaction in medical training.

The ChatGPT group’s ascendency in clinical skillfulness could be a testament to the repetitive, adaptive learning scenarios proffered by AI technology. ChatGPT’s proficiency in tailoring educational content to individual performance metrics propels a more incisive and efficacious learning journey. Furthermore, the on-site, real-time feedback from evaluators is likely instrumental in consolidating clinical skillsets, echoing findings on the potency of immediate feedback in clinical education [ 15 , 16 ].

The study’s strength lies in its pioneering exploration of ChatGPT in pediatric education and the structured use of Mini-CEX for appraising clinical competencies, but it is not without limitations. The ceiling effect may have masked subtle differences in theoretical knowledge, and our small, single-center cohort limits the generalizability of our findings. The transitory nature of the study precludes assessment of long-term retention, a factor that future research should aim to elucidate [ 17 , 18 ].

Moreover, the ongoing evolution of AI and medical curricula necessitates continuous reevaluation of ChatGPT’s role in education. Future studies should explore multicenter trials, long-term outcomes, and integration strategies within existing curricula to provide deeper insights into AI’s role in medical education. Ethical and practical considerations, including data privacy, resource allocation, and cost, must also be carefully navigated to ensure that AI tools like ChatGPT are implemented responsibly and sustainably.

In conclusion, ChatGPT’s incorporation into pediatric training did not significantly affect the acquisition of theoretical knowledge but did enhance clinical skill development. The high levels of trainee satisfaction suggest that ChatGPT is a valuable adjunct to traditional educational methods, warranting further investigation and thoughtful integration into medical curricula.

Availability of data and materials

All data sets generated for this study were included in the manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

Author information, authors and affiliations.

Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Heart Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, 58# Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, China

Hongjun Ba, Lili zhang & Zizheng Yi

Key Laboratory on Assisted Circulation, Ministry of Health, 58# Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, China

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Contributions

H-JB conceived and designed the ideas for the manuscript. H-JB, L-LZ, and Z-ZY participated in all data collection and processing. H-JB was the major contributors in organizing records and drafting the manuscript. All authors proofread and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongjun Ba .

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Ethical approval was obtained from the the Ethics Committee of The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, and informed consent was secured, with special attention to privacy concerns due to the involvement of pediatric patient data.

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Ba, H., zhang, L. & Yi, Z. Enhancing clinical skills in pediatric trainees: a comparative study of ChatGPT-assisted and traditional teaching methods. BMC Med Educ 24 , 558 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05565-1

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Comparative impact of Whatsapp chatbot technology and Glaser's teaching approaches on the academic performance of education economics students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria

• Published: 31 May 2024

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• Clinton Chidiebere Anyanwu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5124-107X 1 ,
• Pauline Ndidi Ononiwu 2 &
• Grace Ngozi Isiozor 2  

In contemporary society, information and communication technology permeates every aspect of human life, including education. This study investigates the impact of WhatsApp chatbot technology and Glaser's teaching approaches on the academic performance of economics education students in tertiary institutions. Grounded in activity theory, the study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test/post-test control group. Initially, the study sampled 324 final-year education economics students, selecting a subset of eighty-three participants for the study. The Performance Economics Ability Test (PEAT) served as the study’s data collection tool, validated through rigorous content, construct, and criterion-related validity analyses, with a reliability coefficient of 0.75. Statistical analyses, such as mean comparisons and standard deviations, were conducted to address the research question. Findings reveal a significant variance in the mean performance scores of students exposed to WhatsApp chatbots compared to those instructed through Glaser's pedagogical approach, highlighting the potential of ICT-enhanced learning environments in tertiary institutions. Therefore, the study recommends the seamless integration of WhatsApp chatbot technology into the pedagogical landscape of economics education, with implications for policy-making and instructional practices. However, the study acknowledges the limitations inherent in the study design and suggests avenues for future research to address these limitations and further clarify the dynamics of ICT-mediated learning environments. 

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Data availability

The datasets generated or analysed during this study and which supports Table  1 , 2 and 3 are included in this manuscript. Also, the datasets generated during this study can be accessed from the corresponding author Dr Clinton Chidiebere Anyanwu on a reasonable request.

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Department of Education and Society, Institute of Science, Innovation and Culture (ISIC), Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep, Bangkok, Thailand

Clinton Chidiebere Anyanwu

Department of Social Science Education, Faculty of Education, Imo State University, Imo State, Owerri, Nigeria

Pauline Ndidi Ononiwu & Grace Ngozi Isiozor

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We declare that all authors contributed immensely in the conceptualization, design, conducting, data analysis and writing up of the manuscript.

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Anyanwu, C.C., Ononiwu, P.N. & Isiozor, G.N. Comparative impact of Whatsapp chatbot technology and Glaser's teaching approaches on the academic performance of education economics students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Educ Inf Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12780-2

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Received : 28 July 2023

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Published : 31 May 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12780-2

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