Between Promise and Practice: Pre-service Teachers’ Grappling with AI for Lesson Design

This qualitative exploratory study explored the individual processes of five PSTs as they interacted with AI, evaluated AI-generated lesson plans, and how they perceived AI’s affordances and constraints. Drawing from the concept of AI literacy, this study provided an in-depth analysis of PSTs’ evaluation processes and perceptions on designing with AI through investigating their recordings of actions with think-aloud, written reflections, and a group interview. The findings showed that despite PSTs being able to articulate the benefits that AI brought in lesson plan designing, they still grappled with the design and evaluation of AI-generated lesson plans. There was a gap between PSTs’ knowledge, practice, and reflection. The findings suggested that PSTs’ AI literacy is in its early stages, highlighting the need for more professional development on AI integrated instructional design. This study offered valuable insights for researchers and teacher educators to foster AI literacy and prepare future educators for effective AI use. Pedagogical implications for instruction, assessment, and policy making were also discussed.