Student GenAI use patterns shifted across assessments: Learning and Formatting dominated under purpose-specific use, while Feedback became the dominant use (66.7%) under open use¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · qualitative r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In Assessment 1 (Purpose-Specific Use), student usage was dominated by Learning (54.5%) and Formatting (40.9%). → Zachery Quince and Emily Faulconer 2026 q2 i? By Assessment 3 (Open Use), Feedback had become the dominant application at 66.7% of reported uses, up from 0% in A1. → Zachery Quince and Emily Faulconer 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Zachery Quince and Emily Faulconer 2026¶

Zachery Quince and Emily Faulconer. (2026). Student GenAI use under changing institutional policies: a mixed-methods case study in undergraduate physics. International Journal of STEM Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-026-00651-w

q2 · i? · qualitative · r?

Qualitative content analysis of 120+ student declarations in the physics case study, coded into four functional categories; A1 was an oral presentation under a purpose-specific policy.

"In Assessment 1 ('Purpose-Specific' Use), student usage was dominated by Learning (54.5%) and Formatting (40.9%)."

Zachery Quince and Emily Faulconer 2026 (2)¶

Zachery Quince and Emily Faulconer. (2026). Student GenAI use under changing institutional policies: a mixed-methods case study in undergraduate physics. International Journal of STEM Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-026-00651-w

q2 · i? · qualitative · r?

Frequency analysis of coded declarations for A3, a take-home quiz under open use; students described using GenAI to check calculations, verify answers, and clarify concepts. Formatting fell to 14.81% and Feedback was 0% in A1.

"By Assessment 3 (A3), Feedback had become the dominant application, accounting for 66.7% of all reported uses."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• ChatGPT was the most used GenAI tool across all three physics assessments, with Copilot a distant second — related
• Within a single LLM session, students' help-seeking shifts toward answer- and verification-seeking while explicit self-regulation modestly increases — related
• Student reflections identify speed and scaffolding as the dominant theme, with verification burden, overreliance worries, and prompt precision also prevalent — related
• Across three physics assessments, students who declared GenAI use scored slightly higher than non-users, but none of the differences were statistically significant — related
• Students' question types shift from confusion-reporting toward procedural and task-oriented inquiry as tasks progress, though the session difference did not reach conventional significance — related