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EI Search: How to Search for Knowledge in the Age of Generative AI

Berry Billingsley Orcid Logo, Sam Clarke, Ted Selker

Science & Education

Swansea University Author: Berry Billingsley Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/s11191-025-00687-4

Abstract

Many widely available search engines prioritise quick access to information, without acknowledging that knowledge is situated across different disciplines. EI Search is the first search engine to empower users’ curiosity about the nature of knowledge and boost epistemic insight into how disciplines...

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Published in: Science & Education
ISSN: 0926-7220 1573-1901
Published: Springer Nature 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70328
first_indexed 2025-09-11T09:49:36Z
last_indexed 2026-02-18T05:32:32Z
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spelling 2026-02-17T14:22:34.3202970 v2 70328 2025-09-11 EI Search: How to Search for Knowledge in the Age of Generative AI b006c4c4d150654e905b9e07d503e2b5 0000-0002-7974-4904 Berry Billingsley Berry Billingsley true false 2025-09-11 SOSS Many widely available search engines prioritise quick access to information, without acknowledging that knowledge is situated across different disciplines. EI Search is the first search engine to empower users’ curiosity about the nature of knowledge and boost epistemic insight into how disciplines work. Unlike conventional search tools that treat knowledge as a monolith, EI Search prompts users to explore complex questions through up to ten disciplines, each offering distinct perspectives. EI Search builds on previous work with the Epistemic Insight Discipline Wheel (DW), an educational graphic that visualises disciplines as interconnected yet distinct fields. Displaying the Discipline Wheel in schools and universities has been shown to empower staff and students to wonder how different disciplines approach a complex topic. However, the DW’s static format limits its capacity to teach epistemic insight and help students to engage with the architecture of knowledge itself. Motivated by the opportunity presented by Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), we reconceptualised the DW into an interactive tool—EI Search—whereby entering a question and selecting disciplines by clicking on them means that users receive pen portraits by GenAI about the approach that each discipline takes. In Phase 1, we developed multifaceted prompts for GenAI to model scholarly knowledge and discipline-specific norms. Phase 2 involved co-creative refinement with educators, technologists, and students, leading to a prototype tailored for educational contexts. In Phase 3, we adapted the tool for secondary schools, gathering data on student interactions. Our findings demonstrate that EI Search effectively ignites epistemic curiosity, fosters agentic learning, and builds disciplinary and interdisciplinary epistemic insight. The research takes place at a pivotal point in the evolution of search engines. We make recommendations about how and why the next generation of search tools should respond to the arrival of GenAI. We also make recommendations for education based on what this research reveals about the power of EI Search to boost knowledge literacy and open users’ minds to the value of taking different perspectives. Journal Article Science & Education 0 Springer Nature 0926-7220 1573-1901 11 11 2025 2025-11-11 10.1007/s11191-025-00687-4 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) The authors thank the Science and Technology Facilities Council for their support (STFC grant number ST/Y005848/1). 2026-02-17T14:22:34.3202970 2025-09-11T10:46:53.3402370 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies Berry Billingsley 0000-0002-7974-4904 1 Sam Clarke 2 Ted Selker 3 70328__35598__545b72e2e54b403eb155c1817bcf709f.pdf 70328.VOR.pdf 2025-11-11T12:53:12.3476522 Output 1639417 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title EI Search: How to Search for Knowledge in the Age of Generative AI
spellingShingle EI Search: How to Search for Knowledge in the Age of Generative AI
Berry Billingsley
title_short EI Search: How to Search for Knowledge in the Age of Generative AI
title_full EI Search: How to Search for Knowledge in the Age of Generative AI
title_fullStr EI Search: How to Search for Knowledge in the Age of Generative AI
title_full_unstemmed EI Search: How to Search for Knowledge in the Age of Generative AI
title_sort EI Search: How to Search for Knowledge in the Age of Generative AI
author_id_str_mv b006c4c4d150654e905b9e07d503e2b5
author_id_fullname_str_mv b006c4c4d150654e905b9e07d503e2b5_***_Berry Billingsley
author Berry Billingsley
author2 Berry Billingsley
Sam Clarke
Ted Selker
format Journal article
container_title Science & Education
container_volume 0
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 0926-7220
1573-1901
doi_str_mv 10.1007/s11191-025-00687-4
publisher Springer Nature
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies
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description Many widely available search engines prioritise quick access to information, without acknowledging that knowledge is situated across different disciplines. EI Search is the first search engine to empower users’ curiosity about the nature of knowledge and boost epistemic insight into how disciplines work. Unlike conventional search tools that treat knowledge as a monolith, EI Search prompts users to explore complex questions through up to ten disciplines, each offering distinct perspectives. EI Search builds on previous work with the Epistemic Insight Discipline Wheel (DW), an educational graphic that visualises disciplines as interconnected yet distinct fields. Displaying the Discipline Wheel in schools and universities has been shown to empower staff and students to wonder how different disciplines approach a complex topic. However, the DW’s static format limits its capacity to teach epistemic insight and help students to engage with the architecture of knowledge itself. Motivated by the opportunity presented by Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), we reconceptualised the DW into an interactive tool—EI Search—whereby entering a question and selecting disciplines by clicking on them means that users receive pen portraits by GenAI about the approach that each discipline takes. In Phase 1, we developed multifaceted prompts for GenAI to model scholarly knowledge and discipline-specific norms. Phase 2 involved co-creative refinement with educators, technologists, and students, leading to a prototype tailored for educational contexts. In Phase 3, we adapted the tool for secondary schools, gathering data on student interactions. Our findings demonstrate that EI Search effectively ignites epistemic curiosity, fosters agentic learning, and builds disciplinary and interdisciplinary epistemic insight. The research takes place at a pivotal point in the evolution of search engines. We make recommendations about how and why the next generation of search tools should respond to the arrival of GenAI. We also make recommendations for education based on what this research reveals about the power of EI Search to boost knowledge literacy and open users’ minds to the value of taking different perspectives.
published_date 2025-11-11T05:27:00Z
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