“The Brain’s Behind the Operation”: Using Activity Theory to Investigate Pre-Service Teachers’ Processes of Designing AI-Assisted Unit Plan

The emergence of AI technology has created an urgent need for future teachers to embrace and use AI in their teaching practice. Using activity theory, this case study investigated the sociocultural factors that influenced the processes of two pairs of pre-service teachers (PSTs) designing AI-assisted, literacy-focused unit plans using ChatGPT. Findings revealed a complex activity system among PSTs when conducting AI-assisted instructional design. Largely influenced by rules and community mediated factors, AI was found to play a limited yet complementary role in the creation of unit plans. This study contributes to the field by highlighting the sociocultural aspects of GenAI use in instructional planning. Practical insights are offered on how teacher education curriculum should be designed to better prepare PSTs for an AI-saturated society.