A case study on the use of a chatbot as a pedagogical tool for teaching Diels-Alder reaction in undergraduate education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/2237-5864.2025.58046Keywords:
artificial intelligence, chatbot, chemistry education, organic chemistry, Diels-AlderAbstract
The present study investigated the use of the chatbot IQ.QO Assistant, developed by one of the authors to specialize in organic chemistry education, with its knowledge restricted to reliable sources. The research is a case study conducted with ten third-semester Chemistry undergraduate students during the first half of 2024. The chatbot’s susceptibility to conceptual errors was analysed in comparison to broad-access language models. Additionally, through content analysis of thirty voluntarily collected prompts, the study aimed to identify patterns in the students’ formulation of questions. The results showed that the developed chatbot exhibited an error rate of only 11%, significantly lower than that of general models. The analysis of the prompts revealed a tendency towards simplicity, with an emphasis on input data (63.5%) and a lack of context, suggesting that students use generative artificial intelligences similarly to search engines. These findings reinforce the need for digital literacy for the effective use of artificial intelligence tools in the educational context, promoting the development of digital competencies and the transition to active learning models.
Downloads
References
ALPAYDIN, Ethem. Introduction to machine learning. 2 ed. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2010.
ARAÚJO, José Luís; SAÚDE, Isabel. Can ChatGPT enhance chemistry laboratory teaching? Using prompt engineering to enable AI in generating laboratory activities. Journal of Chemical Education, Washington, D.C., v. 101, n. 5, p. 1858-1864, mai. 2024. Disponível em: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00745. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
BARDIN, Laurence. Análise de conteúdo. Lisboa: Edições 70, 2015.
BAUM, Zachary J.; YU, Xiang; AYALA, Philippe Y.; ZHAO, Yanan; WATKINS, Stephen P.; ZHOU Qiongqiong. Artificial intelligence in chemistry: current trends and future directions. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, v. 61, n. 7, p. 3197-3212, 26 jul. 2021. Disponível em: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jcim.1c00619. Acesso em: 02 dez. 2025.
CARLEO, Giuseppe; TROYER, Matthias. Solving the quantum many-body problem with artificial neural networks. Science, Washington, D. C., v. 355, n. 6325, p. 602-606, fev. 2017. Disponível em: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aag2302. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
CORREA, Raquel Folmer; GEREMIAS, Bethania Medeiros. Determinismo tecnológico: elementos para debates em perspectiva educacional. Revista Tecnologia e Sociedade, Curitiba, v. 9, n. 18, dez. 2013. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3895/rts.v9n18.2633. Disponível em: https://periodicos.utfpr.edu.br/rts/article/view/2633. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
FUNEL, Jacques-Alexis; ABELE, Stefan. Industrial applications of the Diels-Alder reaction. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Weinheim, v. 52, n. 14, p. 3822-3863, 2013. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/anie.201201636. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
GIRAY, Louie. Prompt engineering with ChatGPT: a guide for academic writers. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, v. 51, n. 12, p. 2629-2633, dez, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-023-03272-4. Disponível em: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10439-023-03272-4. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
GRANDO, John Wesley; CLEOPHAS, Maria das Graças. Análise de aplicativos móveis de realidades digitais para o ensino de química a partir de um modelo heurístico. Revista de Investigação Tecnológica em Educação em Ciências e Matemática, Cuiabá, v. 1, p. 152-165, 2021. Disponível em: https://revistas.unila.edu.br/ritecima/article/view/3195. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
HERMANSON, Greg T. The reactions of bioconjugation. In: Bioconjugate Techniques. [S.I.]: Elsevier, 2013. p. 229-258.
ISTE. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for students. [S.I.], 2018. Disponível em: https://unevoc.unesco.org/home/Digital+Competence+Frameworks/lang=en/id=17#tbar. Acesso em: 9 out. 2025.
KNIGHT, Charles; PRYKE, Sam. Wikipedia and the University, a case study. Teaching in Higher Education, v. 17, n. 6, p. 649-659, dez. 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2012.666734. Disponível em: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2012.666734. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
KULTHAU, Carol C. Inside the search process: information seeking from the user’s perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, v. 42, n. 5, p. 361-371, 1991. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199106)42:5%3C361::AID-ASI6%3E3.0.CO;2-%23. Disponível em: https://asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/%28SICI%291097-4571%28199106%2942%3A5%3C361%3A%3AAID-ASI6%3E3.0.CO%3B2-%23. Acesso em: 02 dez. 2025.
KUNTZ, David; WILSON, Angela K. Machine learning, artificial intelligence, and chemistry: how smart algorithms are reshaping simulation and the laboratory. Pure and Applied Chemistry, v. 94, n. 8, p. 1019-1054, ago. 2022. Disponível em: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/pac-2022-0202/html?srsltid=AfmBOooo8kgcBbDB7jaBehW6IiytbvFwGGI98VFjc29V_W-w0ByaPIyb. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
LEITE, Bruno Silva. Tecnologias no ensino de química: teoria e prática na formação docente. Curitiba: Appris, 2015.
LEITE, Bruno Silva. Aprendizagem tecnológica ativa. Revista Internacional de Educação Superior, Campinas, v. 4, n. 3, p. 580-609, mai. 2018. Disponível em: https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/riesup/article/view/8652160. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
LEITE, Bruno Silva. Tecnologias digitais e metodologias ativas no ensino de química: análise das publicações por meio do corpus latente na internet. Revista Internacional de Pesquisa em Didática das Ciências e Matemática, Itapetininga, e020003, jul. 2020. Disponível em: https://periodicoscientificos.itp.ifsp.edu.br/index.php/revin/article/view/18. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
LEITE, Bruno Silva. Análise da inteligência artificial ChatGPT na proposição de planos de aulas para o ensino de química, Vigo, v. 23, p. 473-497, 2024. Disponível em: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=9903754. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
LOPES, Auxiliadora Cristina Correa Barata; CHAVES, Edson Valente. Animação como recurso didático no ensino da química: capacitando futuros professores. Revista de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre Ensino Tecnológico (EDUCITEC), Manaus, v. 4, n. 07, jun. 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31417/educitec.v4i07.256. Disponível em: https://sistemascmc.ifam.edu.br/educitec/index.php/educitec/article/view/256. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
LUCKIN, Rosemary; CUKUROVA, Mutlu; KENT, Carmel; DU BOULAY, Benedict. Empowering educators to be AI-ready. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, v. 3, p. 100076, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2022.100076. Disponível em: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666920X22000315?via%3Dihub. Acesso em: 02 dez. 2025.
NASCIMENTO JÚNIOR, Wilton José Diolindo; MORAIS, Carla; GIROTTO JÚNIOR, Gildo. Enhancing AI responses in chemistry: integrating text generation, image creation, and image interpretation through different levels of prompts. Journal of Chemical Education, Washington, D. C., v. 101, n. 9, p. 3767-3779, set. 2024. Disponível em: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00230. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
PROFUTURO. The Global Framework for Educational Competence in the Digital Age, 2020. Disponível em: https://unevoc.unesco.org/home/Digital+Competence+Frameworks/lang=en/id=6#tbar. Aceso em: 9 nov. 2025.
RUSSEL, Stuart. Inteligência artificial a nosso favor: como manter o controle sobre a tecnologia. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2021.
SANTOS, Marcos Eduardo Miranda; BATISTA, Wanda dos Santos; OLIVEIRA, João Victor França; JANSEN, Isabel Conceição Carvalho; SANTOS, Kelly Fernanda de Sousa; SANTO, Eliane Coelho Rodrigues dos. Ações educativas para o combate ao mosquito Aedes aegypti em uma escola da região metropolitana de São Luís. Caderno Pedagógico, Curitiba, v. 14, n. 1, jun. 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22410/issn.1983-0882.v14i1a2017.1317. Disponível em: https://ojs.studiespublicacoes.com.br/ojs/index.php/cadped/article/view/1372. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
SAUER, Doz J. Diels-Alder reactions II: the reaction mechanism. Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English, v. 6, n. 1, p. 16-33, 1967. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.196700161. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/anie.196700161. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
SCOTT, JoAnna M.; BOHATY, Brenda S.; GADBURY-AMYOT, Cynthia C. Using learning management software data to compare students’ actual and self-reported viewing of video lectures. Journal of Dental Education, v. 85, n. 10, p. 1674-1682, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.12633. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jdd.12633. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
SEGLER, Marwin H. S.; PREUSS, Mike; WALLER, Mark P. Planning chemical synthesis with deep neural networks and symbolic AI. Nature, Londres, v. 555, n. 7698, p. 604-610, mar. 2018. Disponível em: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25978. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
SELLWOOD, Matthew A.; AHMED, Mohamed; SEGLER, Marwin H. S.; BROWN, Nathan. Artificial intelligence in drug discovery. Future Medicinal Chemistry, v. 10, n. 17, p. 2025-2028, set. 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4155/fmc-2018-0212. Disponível em: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4155/fmc-2018-0212. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
SENIOR, Andrew W.; EVANS, Richard; JUMPER, John; KIRKPATRICK, James; SIFRE, Laurent; GREEN, Tim; QIN, Chongli; ŽÍDEK, Augustin, NELSON, Alexander W. R.; BRIDGLAND, Alex; PENEDONES, Hugo; PETERSEN, Stig; SIMONYAN, Karen; CROSSAN, Steve; KOHLI, Pushmeet; JONES, David T.; SILVER, David; KAVUKCUOGLU, Koray; HASSABIS, Demis. Improved protein structure prediction using potentials from deep learning. Nature, Londres, v. 577, n. 7792, p. 706-710, jan. 2020. Disponível em: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1923-7. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
SILVA, Ketia Kellen Araújo da; BEHAR, Patrícia Alejandra. Competências digitais na educação: uma discussão acerca do conceito. Educação em Revista, Belo Horizonte, v. 35, n. e209940, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-4698209940. Disponível em: http://educa.fcc.org.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0102-46982019000100419&lng=pt&nrm=iso. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
STAKE, Robert E. The art of case study research. California: Sage Publications, 1995.
TASSOTI, Sebastian. Assessment of students use of generative artificial intelligence: prompting strategies and prompt engineering in chemistry education. Journal of Chemical Education, Washington, D. C., v. 101, n. 6, p. 2475-2482, mai. 2024. Disponível em: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00212. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
TAUBER, Amanda L.; LEVONIS, Stephan M.; SCHWEIKER, Stephanie S. Gamified virtual laboratory experience for in-person and distance students. Journal of Chemical Education, Washington, D. C., v. 99, n. 3, p. 1183-1189, jan. 2022. Disponível em: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00642. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
UNESCO. AI competency framework for teachers. [S.I.]: UNESCO, 2024.
WHITE, Jules; FU, Quchen; HAYS, Sam; SANDBORN, Michael; OLEA, Carlos; GILBERT, Henry; ELNASHAR, Ashraf; SPENCER-SMITH, Jesse;
SCHMIDT, Douglas C. A prompt pattern catalog to enhance prompt engineering with ChatGPT. 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2302.11382. Disponível em: https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.11382. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
YEINGST, Tyus J.; HELTON Angelica M.; HAYES, Daniel J. Applications of Diels-Alder qhemistry in biomaterials and drug delivery. Macromolecular Bioscience, Weinheim, v. 24, n. 12, p. 2400274, dez. 2024. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mabi.202400274. Acesso em: 16 nov. 2025.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Wilton José Diolindo do Nascimento Júnior, Mayara de Carvalho Santos, Paulo César Muniz de Lacerda Miranda, Gildo Girotto Júnior

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which allows the sharing of work with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are authorized to take additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g. publish in institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Open access policy:
Revista Docência do Ensino Superior is an Open Access journal, which means that all content is available free of charge, at no cost to the user or their institution. Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other legal purpose, without seeking prior permission from the publisher or author, provided they respect the license to use the Creative Commons used by the journal. This definition of open access is in line with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

























