The Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence (AI) Literacy Level and Differentiation Problem-Solving Ability Among Engineering Students at Politeknik Kota Bharu

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the relationship between the level of Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy (the use of ChatGPT, Photomath, Math Solver, etc.) and differentiation problem-solving ability among Electrical Engineering students at Politeknik Kota Bharu (PKB). A major present-day challenge in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is ensuring that the integration of AI technology does not compromise students' cognitive and mathematical logic skills. AI literacy in this context refers to students' ability to understand, utilize, and critically evaluate AI technologies in learning, particularly in engineering mathematics.A total of 122 Semester 2 Diploma in Electrical Engineering students taking the Numerical Analysis course participated in this study. The research instruments comprised a questionnaire measuring demographic information and AI literacy levels, alongside an achievement test on the topic of differentiation. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation test) via SPSS.The analysis revealed that respondents consisted of 114 male students (93.4%) and 8 female students (6.6%). The vast majority of respondents (99.2%) achieved high academic performance with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) exceeding 3.5, and 59.0% of students utilized AI only 1–3 times a week. The mean average for AI literacy level among students was 4.09, which falls into the high level category. Similarly, the mean average for differentiation problem-solving ability was 4.05, also at a high level.The results of the Pearson correlation test demonstrated a significant and strong positive relationship between AI literacy level and differentiation problem-solving ability (r = 0.784, p = 0.000, p < 0.05), thereby rejecting the Null Hypothesis (H0) and accepting the Alternative Hypothesis (H1). Conversely, a second Pearson correlation indicated no significant relationship between actual test marks (TEST) and AI literacy level (r = 0.031, p = 0.737), suggesting a very weak or virtually non-existent relationship. These analyses clearly demonstrate that an increase in students' AI literacy level is directly associated with their ability to solve Engineering Mathematics problems in the topic of differentiation.

Keyword :  Literacy AI, Problem Solving, Differentiation, Engineering Mathematics