Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-23-2026
Abstract
Critical thinking and persuasive communication are essential for biology graduates navigating socioscientific dilemmas. While debate pedagogy fosters problem-solving, autonomy, competence, and relatedness aligned with adult learning and self-determination theories, inexperienced students often struggle with the cognitive load and anxiety from this format. To bridge this gap, “Dr. Contrarian,” a persona-based conversational AI agent, was developed to function as an adversarial coach during debate preparation. Survey data (n = 21) adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model show that 85.7% of students found the tool easy to use, and 71.4% would use it again. Thematic analysis of metacognitive reflections suggests that while Dr.Contrarian facilitated meaningful cognitive engagement, spontaneous live rebuttals remain challenging for most students. Ultimately, by serving as a low-stakes ideological sandbox, this instructor-designed AI tool overcomes pedagogical barriers faced by novice debaters, allowing students to fully engage in and benefit from classroom debates.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00178-26
Publication Information
Hanafiah, Khayriyyah Mohd (2026). "Dr. Contrarian: a persona-driven conversational AI agent for coaching argumentative reasoning in infectious disease classroom debates." Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education .
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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Comments
Link to publisher's website: https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.00178-26