Artificial Intelligence in Secondary Education: Educational Affordances and Constraints of ChatGPT-4o Use

The purpose of this study was to examine, from the perspective of secondary education students, the educational affordances and constraints of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in teaching and learning. The sample consisted of 45 students from the 2nd year of General Lyceum (11th grade, ages 16-17) in Greece, who, after becoming familiarized with ChatGPT-4o and completing six activities, filled in an open-ended questionnaire related to the research purpose. Open, axial, and selective coding of the data revealed that students recognize five educational affordances: the creation of new knowledge building on prior knowledge, immediate feedback, friendly interaction through messaging, ease and speed of access to information, and skills development. Concurrently, three main constraints were identified: content reliability, anxiety about AI use, and privacy concerns. The study concludes that students are positive toward AI use in education.