{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T16:14:22Z","timestamp":1785428062611,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]],"date-time":"2026-04-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775606400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Anhui Province Higher Education Middle-aged and Young Teachers Cultivation Project","award":["NO. YQYB2025052"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. YQYB2025052"]}]},{"name":"Chizhou University High level Talent Research Startup Fund","award":["NO. CZ2022YJRC09"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. CZ2022YJRC09"]}]},{"award":["NO. CZ2022YJRC09"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. CZ2022YJRC09"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/007cx7r28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Excellent Youth Project of Hunan Provincial Department of Education","award":["NO. 25B0796"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 25B0796"]}]},{"name":"Hunan Provincial Social Science Foundation Youth Project","award":["NO. 25YBQ183"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 25YBQ183"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100015801","name":"Anhui Provincial Quality Engineering Project","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["NO. 2024aijy432"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 2024aijy432"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100015801","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100015801","name":"Anhui Provincial Quality Engineering Project","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["NO. 2023cxtd"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 2023cxtd"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100015801","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Quality Engineering Project of Chizhou University","award":["NO. 2025XZHKC09"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 2025XZHKC09"]}]},{"name":"Quality Engineering Project of Chizhou University","award":["NO. 2023XJXTD06"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 2023XJXTD06"]}]},{"award":["NO. 2025XZHKC09"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 2025XZHKC09"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/007cx7r28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["NO. 2023XJXTD06"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 2023XJXTD06"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/007cx7r28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Key Project of Teaching and Research at Chizhou University","award":["NO. 2025XRZXM03"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 2025XRZXM03"]}]},{"award":["NO. 2025XRZXM03"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO. 2025XRZXM03"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/007cx7r28","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs), including ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and Claude, have facilitated their growing integration into computer science education, including data structure courses. Despite their widespread adoption, the association between sustained and informal LLM usage and students\u2019 learning outcomes remains insufficiently understood. This study seeks to address this gap by empirically examining the association between LLM usage and undergraduate performance in data structure education. We conduct a twelve-week empirical study involving fifty-four undergraduate students, in which LLMs were made freely accessible but neither explicitly encouraged nor discouraged during coursework and assignments. Students\u2019 LLM usage patterns are analyzed in relation to their academic performance across different task types. Findings reveal a significant negative association between extensive reliance on LLMs for cognitively demanding tasks and overall learning outcomes. Additionally, an inverse associative trend is observed between the frequency of LLM usage across some learning activities and academic performance. In contrast, the use of LLMs for supplementary purposes, including conceptual clarification and theoretical understanding, exhibits a notably positive association with final performance. These findings suggest a task-dependent associative relationship between LLM usage and learning outcomes: LLM usage for conceptual learning shows a positive association with the mastery of relevant knowledge when used as a supplementary learning tool, while excessive LLM usage shows a negative association with the development of fundamental analytical and problem-solving skills. This study highlights the importance of carefully integrating LLMs into data structure education to support learning while preserving students\u2019 independent cognitive engagement.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info17040353","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]],"date-time":"2026-04-08T07:25:12Z","timestamp":1775633112000},"page":"353","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Exploring the Application of Large Language Models (LLMs) in Data Structure Instruction: An Empirical Analysis of Student Learning Outcomes in Computer Science"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5883-3780","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hongzhi","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, Chizhou University, Chizhou 247000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lijun","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Changsha University, Changsha 410000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kezhong","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, Chizhou University, Chizhou 247000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dun","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zheqing","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, Chizhou University, Chizhou 247000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qishou","family":"Xia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, Chizhou University, Chizhou 247000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.1057\/s41599-025-04471-1","article-title":"LLM-based collaborative programming: Impact on students\u2019 computational thinking and self-efficacy","volume":"12","author":"Yan","year":"2025","journal-title":"Humanit. 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