AI Chatbots to Support Disciplinary Literacy in Social Studies for Middle School Multilingual Spanish Learners

Abstract

Disciplinary literacy in social studies requires students to think historically, by thinking, reading, writing, and speaking like historians. A tool that can support students’ disciplinary learning and historical thinking are AI Chatbots. However, there is little research detailing how AI chatbots are used in multilingual classrooms beyond creating interactive, simulation-oriented experiences for students. In this article, we employed a MagicSchool Custom Chatbot Builder to develop a Chatbot Challenge (Desafio Chatbot) assignment assisting middle school multilingual learners (MLLs) as they practiced historical inquiry. Thus, through a Spanish Chatbot assignment, students interacted with a historical figure, researched about them, and analyzed their interactions, practicing the skills of a historian, such as critical questioning, sourcing, and contextualization, evaluating the reliability of information generated by AI, and explaining a figure’s historical legacy in relation to equality, justice, and social change. The results indicate that across classrooms, the Desafío Chatbot appeared to lower barriers to participation for MLLs. Drawing on classroom artifacts, teacher notes, and observations of student engagement, this article offers an account of how disciplinary moves such as inquiry, sourcing, contextualization, corroboration, close reading, and expanding learning became visible across the assignment’s stages. By engaging in planning, questioning, interaction, and reflection, students practiced historical thinking, evidence-based inquiry, chronological reasoning, and digital literacy. This article offers insight into how teachers can foster grade-appropriate engagement in historical thinking through AI chatbots.