Artificial Intelligence and Smart Knowledge Management in Education: A Lever to Develop Digital Skills, Soft Skills, and Student Autonomy in Sciences

With the digitalization of education, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into knowledge management systems provides new prospects for cultivating middle school students' digital literacy, self-learning agency, and socio-affective competence. Sciences provide fertile ground for testing novel concepts because they are interdisciplinary and inquisitive. Design and Method This research used a mixed method which integrated a quasi-experimental research design and observation techniques. For 12 weeks, a middle school science class used an AI-driven knowledge management system. The intervention aimed to foster self-directed learning, group work, and the acquisition of soft and digital skills. Data were collected using digital activity logs, semi-structured teacher and student interviews and pre- and post-tests. digital work logs, and semi-structured teacher and student interviews were also used. The students showed improvement in their understanding of digital communication, content management, and information retrieval. Also boosted were soft skills including problem-solving, self-control and cooperation. Moreover, AI-facilitated tools fostered greater independence and involvement in scientific study. AI-powered knowledge management systems have great potential to revolutionize middle-school education. When properly applied, their use can support cognitive and socio-emotional learning, particularly in inquiry-based subjects such as the sciences. Subsequent research should focus on scale-up and longer-term effects across a diversity of educational settings.