AI socrates for med students: a smarter way to learn?
NCT ID NCT07752160
First seen Aug 07, 2026 · Last updated Aug 07, 2026
Summary
This trial tests whether an AI tutor that uses Socratic questioning—asking guiding questions rather than giving answers—can improve medical students' critical thinking and reasoning in epidemiology. About 60 MBBS students are split into two groups: one uses the Socratic AI agent, the other uses a general chatbot. Researchers compare test scores, reasoning ability, and learning satisfaction to see if the Socratic approach makes a difference.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Socratic Agent for Guided Epidemiology (SAGE), an AI teaching assistant that uses Socratic questioning to guide learning
- What this could lead to
- If effective, this AI tutor could become a standard tool for teaching critical thinking and reasoning in medical education, potentially improving how future doctors learn.
- What could go wrong
- The trial is small (60 students) and early, so results may not apply broadly. AI tools can also cause over-reliance or cognitive overload, which the study aims to measure.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 60 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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May 2026
- Expected to finish
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Jan 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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16 to 25 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * 1: The undergraduate students of the "Belt and Road Initiative" International Medical School of Zhejiang University who have officially registered for the MBBS program * 2: Voluntary signing of the informed consent form Exclusion Criteria: * 1: Having severe mental illnesses (such as severe depression, bipolar disorder, acute phase of schizophrenia), serious physical diseases or cognitive impairments * 2: Is currently participating in other studies that may affect the outcome indicators of this research * 3: Have systematically studied or participated in research that is highly similar to this study * 4: No experience of AI agent learning
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As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Zhejiang University International School of Medicine
RECRUITINGYiwu, Zhejiang, 322000, China