Dr. Contrarian: a persona-driven conversational AI agent for coaching argumentative reasoning in infectious disease classroom debates.

Authors

Khayriyyah Mohd Hanafiah

Published in

Journal of microbiology & biology education. Pages e0017826. Sep 23, 2026. Epub Sep 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.

PMID:
42775883
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 23 Sep 2026.

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