An investigation into the impact of Artificial Intelligence on pupil engagement in Year 9 geography lessons

Thesis

Generative AI (GenAI) has the potential to significantly impact various aspects of pedagogy within geography education. This dissertation aims to explore how the emerging technology of GenAI might influence pupil engagement. A mixed-methods case study was carried out across nine Year 9 tectonic hazards lessons at a secondary school in England, using Martin’s Motivation and Engagement Scale (Martin, 2003), pupil-voice questionnaires, teacher reflective logs, and semi-structured interviews with three teachers. The intervention utilised GenAI to offer structured choices, adaptive scaffolding, and instant formative feedback, with tasks requiring pupils to explain, critique, and revise GenAI outputs. Quantitative data showed modest improvements in motivation and participation, while qualitative findings revealed increased visible participation and sustained on-task attention. Pupils appreciated personalised next-step feedback and opportunities to influence their learning pathways. Evidence of cognitive engagement was mixed: scaffolding supported access and strategy use, but some pupils used GenAI merely to obtain answers, leading to limited cognitive engagement. Agentic engagement was strongest when activities provided genuine choice and questioning. The study concludes that GenAI does not directly generate engagement; instead, it enhances well-designed pedagogy when integration supports autonomy and feedback. Practical implications include designing for structured choices with clear success criteria and training pupils to critically analyse GenAI outputs. Limitations include a single-site, small-N design and a brief timeframe. The research adds subject-specific evidence from geography classrooms and proposes design principles for future work and practice.

Authors: Downs, J

• Type of award: MSc
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: behavioural engagement; agentic engagement; self-determination theory; educational technology; geography education; secondary education; pupil engagement; Motivation and Engagement Scale (Martin); artificial intelligence in education; emotional engagement; large language models; cognitive engagement; generative AI (GenAI); motivation
• Subjects: Education; Geography; Artificial intelligence; Geography teachers