Primer: An AI Framework for Instructor-Centered Educational Simulation Creation

arXiv:2611.16986v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Educational simulations are a well-established pedagogical technique that gives learners opportunities to apply knowledge, respond to challenges, and reflect on their performance. High-quality simulations, however, are difficult to build, requiring instructor input, scenario design, character development, scaffolding, technical implementation, and repeated revision. This paper presents Primer, an open-source, LLM-agnostic AI-supported system that helps educators create adaptive educational simulations. Educators contribute their knowledge of the subject, lesson, and students, while generative AI produces responsive variations of practice for students. Primer uses a multi-agent system centered around executing educator's instructional intent through the entire learning experience. We hope that by releasing Primer as an open-source system, including its prompts and GitHub repository, we provide a foundation for development and research on educator-in-the-loop AI authoring, multi-agent educational workflows, and simulation-based pedagogy. Further, by allowing the use of various AI models, including local and open source models, we provide the opportunity for implementation under varied governance regimes. Primer points toward a model of educational AI in which instructors can create locally grounded practice opportunities based on their own materials, goals, examples, and knowledge of students.