You can either propose your own topic for your thesis or choose a topic from our thesis topics (below). In either case, you would need to discuss this with one of our lab members to reach a mutual agreement. Here are some open thesis topics for which we are currently looking for students:

With Tomo:

• • • Promoting “smart” choices in using metacognitive strategies during math learning (Preferred background: LS/Psych, Design-focused thesis)
      • In this project, you will design an interactive and intelligent system to support students’ self-regulated, strategic choice-making behaviors during math learning.
    • Embodied emotion regulation: Investigating the interplay between students’ emotion regulation and their bodily state/reactions during learning (Preferred background: CS/HCI/LS, Design-focused or Experiment-focused thesis)
      • In this project, you would investigate the role of embodiment in emotion regulation, how it helps students during learning, and may design an intervention that helps learners effectively regulate their negative emotions through embodiment. In collaboration with Dr. Julia Chatain at ETH Zürich.
    • Designing and testing an instructional intervention to promote metacognitive or domain-level learning in CS education (Preferred background: LS/Instructional Design/Design, Design-focused or Experiment-focused thesis).
      • In this collaborative project with the Machine Teaching Group at MPI-SWS, you will design and test (with students in Germany) an instruction intervention that aims to promote metacognitive or domain-level learning in the context of CS education (using https://www.blocksandpython.com/). Web dev skills are a plus, but not required.
    • Conducting tutor log data analysis to find patterns of students’ choice-making behaviors during learning  (Preferred background: LS/Psych, Data analysis-focused thesis)
      • In this project, you will use existing log data from a tutoring system to find meaningful patterns in student behaviors when they interact with the software. It involves some advanced statistical analyses, including but not limited to, linear regressions, logistic regressions, ML, and multi-level modeling.
    • Understanding teachers’, students’, and parents’ perspectives on the use of (generative) AI in the classroom/home environment (Preferred background: HCI/Design, Design-focused thesis)
      • In this project, you will work with community members to understand how they view the use of (generative) AI in the classroom or home environment for teaching and learning.  Native-level German skill is a plus.

With Bingyi Han (postdoc):

• • • Understanding Human-GenAI Learning Interactions that promotes critical thinking – Designing conversational AI systems for meaningful self-directed learning and reasoning (Preferred background: if you love statistics and running experiments to see how human behave or respond differently to various AI interaction designs).
      • In this type of project, you may work on prompt engineering with LLMs (or design simple conversational AI interaction prototypes), run experimental studies with real users, and develop evaluation measures for learning-related elements.  
      • My broader research interest focuses on how conversational AI reshapes human learning, reasoning, agency, and decision-making during self-directed learning processes. Possible project directions may involve topics such as: learning agency and autonomy, trust and reliance on AI, human–AI co-reasoning, critical thinking and reflection, learning motivation and habits. 
      • If you are interested in working with me, please include a brief initial research idea in your cover letter. This does not need to be fully developed, but it should include: your research aims or question, a possible research method (and how your background is relevant to that), and a rough timeline or plan. You can think of this as a mini research proposal. If you are unfamiliar with writing one, please do some initial self-learning and preparation before applying. (A tip: this is how you tell me what question you are curious about and convince me why it is an interesting and important research question to investigate.) 
      • I will be happy to discuss and brainstorm with you once there is a concrete starting point. 
      • You will gain hands-on experience in designing behavioural experiments with AI systems and studying how people learn with AI. If you are considering doing a PhD afterwards, please also mention this in your cover letter, so I can better support you in shaping a project that may grow into a PhD direction or prepare you for paper publication. 

With Shintaro Sato (PhD researcher):

• • • Understanding types of effective feedback messages within intelligent tutoring software (Preferred background: Learning Sciences/Psychology/HCI/Design, Design-focused thesis)
      • In this project, you will explore how to design effective feedback messages on ITS to enhance student learning and motivation. You will conduct a survey with storyboards to understand what kinds of feedback school teachers would give in several different situations, and design and implement a variety of feedback messages within an existing intelligent tutoring system.
    • Human-AI hybridity in feedback giving in the classroom (Preferred background: Design/HCI/Learning Sciences, Experiment- or Design-focused thesis)
      • The project explores how we might support effective orchestration between human teachers and AI systems in school classrooms. You may design feedback messages in an AI-based tutoring system and/or conduct a school-based experiment to capture the role of human teachers in feedback giving in the classroom. Native-level German skill is required.

With Mirella Hladký (PhD researcher):

• • Emotion-Sensitive Learning Technologies and Learning Technologies that Support Emotion Regulation (Preferred background: Psychology/HCI/Design/Learning Sciences, CS welcome if you have a strong interest in Psychology; Experiment- or Design-focused thesis) 
    • In this open project, you can bring in your ideas on researching how to design learning technologies that consider learners’ emotional states, that foster a socio-emotionally supportive learning experience and/or support adaptive emotion regulation during learning. If you’re interested in these topics, please include your ideas in your motivation letter. 
  • Math anxiety and learning technologies that support math anxiety regulation (Preferred background: Psychology/HCI/Design/Learning Sciences, CS welcome if you have a strong interest in Psychology; Experiment- or Design-focused thesis)
    • In this open project, you can bring in your ideas on researching the concept of Math Anxiety and/or how to design technologies that support Math Anxiety regulation. If you’re interested in these topics, please include your ideas in your motivation letter. 
  • Emotional Sharing with an LLM-based Learning Assistant (Preferred background: Psychology/CS/HCI/Design/Learning Sciences, must have technical skills to implement prototype; Experiment- or Design-focused thesis) 
    • You will investigate how social sharing of emotions (as a form of interpersonal emotion regulation or co-regulation) with an LLM-based learning assistant can improve learner’s well-being and performance. The scope of this project is open to shaping (e.g., target group, learning context, visual appearance and other characteristics of assistant, different control conditions to test effectiveness of assistant, …). If you’re applying for this thesis topic, please include your concrete interests or ideas in your motivation letter. 
  • Students’ Shame Regulation Strategies in Shame-Eliciting Learning-Related Contexts (Preferred background: Psychology or related fields; must have interpersonal skills to interview and attend to study participants; Experiment-based thesis) 
    • You will explore what Shame Regulation Strategies do school or university students apply in learning/studying contexts that elicit the self-conscious emotion shame. For that, you will investigate what shame-eliciting situations students experience (and potentially design shame-eliciting situations to which study participants will be exposed). In in-depth interviews, you will investigate student’s applied Shame Regulation Strategies and analyze them using Qualitative Content Analysis. If you’re interested in this topic, please familiarize yourself with the Compass of Shame by Nathanson (1992).
  • Highly Personalized Math Tutor(Preferred background: CS/HCI/Design, must have technical skills to implement prototype; Experiment- or Design-focused thesis) 
    • You will design, implement and evaluate a highly personalized math tutor that is based on a student’s individual characteristics (personality, interests, preferences, …). This thesis will be embedded in a project where we investigate students’ desire for agency in technology-supported learning environments and co-design an AI-based learning tool (with both German and Japanese school students) that considers these findings. We consider the students’ desire for personalization as a desire for indirect control over the learning content and process.