Abstract
This study investigated generative AI's impact on design students' critical thinking and creative achievement through a counterbalanced within-subjects experiment with 61 university students in southern China. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: Group A used traditional tools (Adobe software, handmade methods) followed by AI tools (Midjourney, DALL-E), while Group B used the reverse order. Students created graphic posters on different but comparable themes with a two- week interval between sessions. Data were collected through pre- and post-surveys using composite scores, blind expert evaluations of the design outputs, and focus group interviews. Results revealed a paradox: students reported significantly lower confidence in their critical thinking when using AI tools (d = 0.86), yet their creative works received significantly higher expert ratings (η²p = .545). Focus group interviews indicated that selecting appropriate prompts—a process requiring critical thinking—was perceived as the most difficult aspect, yet it contributed to superior creative outcomes. These findings highlight the complex relationship be-tween AI support and cognitive engagement in design education. While AI tools may reduce perceived critical thinking, they enhance creative quality, suggesting the need to rethink how critical thinking is taught and assessed in AI-integrated design curricula.
Keywords
Generative AI; Design Education; Creative Achievement; Critical Thinking
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.439
Citation
Hwang, Y.,and Hwang, J.(2025) The Effect of Generative AI on Design Students' Critical Thinking and Creative Achievement, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.439
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 12 - Design Education
The Effect of Generative AI on Design Students' Critical Thinking and Creative Achievement
This study investigated generative AI's impact on design students' critical thinking and creative achievement through a counterbalanced within-subjects experiment with 61 university students in southern China. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: Group A used traditional tools (Adobe software, handmade methods) followed by AI tools (Midjourney, DALL-E), while Group B used the reverse order. Students created graphic posters on different but comparable themes with a two- week interval between sessions. Data were collected through pre- and post-surveys using composite scores, blind expert evaluations of the design outputs, and focus group interviews. Results revealed a paradox: students reported significantly lower confidence in their critical thinking when using AI tools (d = 0.86), yet their creative works received significantly higher expert ratings (η²p = .545). Focus group interviews indicated that selecting appropriate prompts—a process requiring critical thinking—was perceived as the most difficult aspect, yet it contributed to superior creative outcomes. These findings highlight the complex relationship be-tween AI support and cognitive engagement in design education. While AI tools may reduce perceived critical thinking, they enhance creative quality, suggesting the need to rethink how critical thinking is taught and assessed in AI-integrated design curricula.