Educators’ experience and guide to scaffolding generative AI applications throughout a physiology and pharmacology undergraduate laboratory course

One of the identified points of confusion and a barrier to students using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is knowing what their professor would consider appropriate use of GenAI in a classroom setting or course framework. This creates points of friction for instructors and students as they try to navigate an ever-changing landscape, while trying to ensure work readiness skills for students. This includes the development of GenAI literacy, prompt engineering as related to physiology and research, and critical thinking skills. In this paper, we suggest an innovative, two-pronged approach that scaffolds the use of GenAI in a third-year physiology and pharmacology course. First, we propose integrating centralized support for GenAI within a course through asynchronous means, demonstrating how GenAI can be used as a tool. Second, we provide a step-by-step guide, with a concrete example of using GenAI for developing a novel experimental question, a hypothesis, legitimate methodology and analysis, and critical evaluation of GenAI outputs. We also provide a general implementation guide and logistical considerations, and adaptations for other courses are discussed.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Exciting innovation in education! We are addressing generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) confusion in higher education classrooms with a two-pronged approach for a third-year physiology and pharmacology lab course. Ensuring GenAI literacy, prompt engineering, and critical thinking while providing an authentic lab experience. We present a scaffolded approach using centralized GenAI support and a step-by-step guide for developing novel experiments and supporting faculty GenAI literacy. Working to support faculty and students alike!