As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms educational landscapes, educators face both unprecedented opportunities and urgent questions about how technology can support, rather than undermine, character development. Bringing AI into education represents a significant challenge without theory or empirical support for guidance.
This intensive mixed-methods longitudinal study investigates how AI-supported learning environments enhance students' purpose antecedents (e.g., agency, autonomy support, curiosity, interest, competence/self-efficacy, relatedness, prosocial orientation, and self-awareness) and facilitate purpose formation.
Our study follows approximately 100 students (ages 12-15) using experience sampling surveys, long-form surveys, and developmental interviews across the school year. Alpha School uses an AI-supported learning approach across three modalities [(1) AI-powered mastery learning, 2) guide-facilitated mentoring, and 3) project-based learning], which is one of the few educational models globally that maximizes AI integration while maintaining authentic and agentic learning experiences, providing the ideal setting to study character development. This project will examine which learning modalities most effectively support purpose development and how daily agency fluctuations predict purpose trajectories. Expected outcomes include empirical validation of agency-purpose connections, evidence for AI learning's role in character development, and practical resources.
