Innovative teaching: How pre-service teachers use artificial intelligence to teach science to fourth graders

Oct 15, 2026

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Study examines the most frequently repeated prompts by pre-service teachers when using the Copilot technique, alongside their reflections on preparing and planning science lessons for fourth graders. An exploratory qualitative case-study design was implemented with a purposeful sample of 20 pre-service teachers, split into four focus groups. Evidence came from document analysis of AI-generated outcomes, reflective journal entries, and focus group interviews. Findings show common uses including lesson plans, instructional media, authentic assessment, tables, pictures, drawings, and instructional strategies, and six reflection themes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Background

Methods and Data Collection (implied)

OPEN ACCESS Research Article Contemporary Educational Technology, 2025, 17(1), ep547 ISSN: 1309-517X (Online) Innovative teaching: How pre-service teachers use artificial intelligence to teach science to fourth graders Marwan Mohammad Abualrob 1* 0000-0002-5910-6235 1 Arab American University, Jenin, PALESTINE * [Corresponding author:](Corresponding author: marwan.abualrob@aaup.edu)[ marwan.abualrob@aaup.edu](Corresponding author: marwan.abualrob@aaup.edu) Citation: Abualrob, M. M. (2025) . Innovative teaching: How pre-service teachers use artificial intelligence to teach science to fourth graders. Contemporary Educational Technology, 17(1), ep547. [https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/15686](https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/15686) ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT | Received: 4 Jun 2024
Accepted: 7 Nov 2024
INTRODUCTION | This study aims to uncover the prompts most frequently repeated by pre-service teachers when using the Copilot technique, as well as their reflections on its use in preparing and planning science lessons for fourth graders. The qualitative research methodology with an exploratory case-study design was conducted on a purposeful sample of 20 pre-service teachers. The sample was divided into four focus groups. Data was collected through document analysis of the outcomes from the pre-service teachers’ artificial intelligence creations, their reflective journal entries, and the discussion that occurred during the four focus groups’ interviews. The study’s results revealed that the applications mostly used by pre-service teachers include lesson plans, instructional media, authentic assessment, tables, pictures, drawings, and instructional strategies. Six themes emerged from the reflective Journal and focus groups’ interview analysis connected to the use of the Copilot method in teaching. These themes were the following: developing cognition of new ideas, attracting attention to things that never crossed their minds, saving time and effort, compatibility with students’ needs, less human interaction, and dependency.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, Copilot, pre-service teachers, science | | --- | --- | Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a vital role in the constant increase of societal digitization. Thus, major countries all over the world put a lot of effort into providing high-quality teaching in the field of AI by using AI and technology in teaching (Touretzky et al., 2019) . AI-supported technology has become increasingly crucial in our daily lives; as it changes our way of thinking, behaviors, and interactions with one another (Chen et al., 2020a) . Moreover, it was noticed that there is a rapid increase in the use of AI technologies in the educational field where it works towards radically changing the nature of teaching in the classroom (Zhang & Aslan, 2021) . Teachers’ understanding and awareness levels about AI significantly affect the future of the students who are being prepared for the AI era (Ryu & Han, 2018) . Teachers also play a crucial role in preventing the misuse of AI technologies, as well as broadening the academic knowledge base. Despite the numerous calls to raise awareness, many teachers refuse to use programs that collect student data. Further, they distrust the companies that utilize technology as a fix to all educational issues (Stockman & Nottingham, 2022) . Keep in mind, AI cannot replace the role of teacher; however, it can provide opportunities for students to use AI-based learning tools when appropriate (Halaweh, 2023; Utami et al., 2023) . One of the methods researchers used to study generative AI in lesson planning was asking the AI to create virtual lesson plans then analyzing the outcomes (van den Berg & du Plessis, 2023; Cooper, 2023) . Researchers found that generative AI was useful for teachers in generating course materials, evaluations, offering recommendations, translating information into other languages (Che n et al., 2020a), and easing students’ wo

FAQs

What technique did pre-service teachers use in this study?

The study focused on the Copilot technique used by pre-service teachers when preparing and planning fourth-grade science lessons.

How were data collected for the qualitative case study?

Data were collected through document analysis of AI-created outcomes, reflective journal entries, and discussion during four focus group interviews.

What applications and instructional supports were most often used?

The results report frequent use of lesson plans, instructional media, authentic assessment, tables, pictures, drawings, and instructional strategies.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by OmBimo