Areas of work/research

As a junior research group leader for AI in physical education, AOR Dr. Stefan Küchemann develops and researches AI-based learning environments and principles of personalization based on learner characteristics and eye tracking data. New learning platforms based on classical machine learning methods as well as on large language models are investigated and One focus of the junior research group is the empirical investigation and development of visualizations of concepts of quantum technologies.
The successes of his junior research group include

- Development of the learning platform RatsApp, which enables learners to receive feedback on conceptual multiple-choice questions and monitor their learning progress using data dashboards [1].

- The development of the learning platform LEAP [2], which enables teachers to easily provide learners with detailed physically correct feedback on their task solutions using large language models. LEAP is currently widely used in Germany, empirically studied and continuously developed [3].

- Empirical evidence on large language models showing that large language models can effectively support teachers in task development, but that aspects of specificity and physical uniqueness need to be considered [4] and that large language models can simulate learner difficulties and thus be used to generate artificial empirical data [5].

- Various literature reviews highlighting the possibilities and risks of large language models and multimodal language models in education [6, 7].

Short biography

Stefan Küchemann studied physics at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (2004-2010), which he completed with a diploma. He then finished his doctorate at the 1st Physics Institute of the Georg-August-University Göttingen on thermodynamic and kinetic properties of metallic glasses during ultrafast heating (2014). After completing his PhD, he joined the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a Research Scholar (2015-2017). From 2017 to 2021, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Didactics of Physics group at TU Kaiserslautern (now: RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau), where he was appointed Academic Councilor (dt.: Akademischer Rat) in 2021. In 2022, he took over the junior research group leadership for AI in physics education at the Chair of Physics Education at LMU Munich, where he was appointed Senior Academic Councilor (dt.: Akademischer Oberrat) in 2023. From February 2023 to July 2024, he worked as a part-time physics teacher at the Käthe-Kollwitz-Gymnasium in Munich and since June 2024 he is part of the editorial board of Physical Review Physics Education Research.

The work of his group resulted in a large number of highly cited international publications and the founding of the company Ease of Mind GmbH in November 2024, where he is a shareholder.