New paths in teacher training: The importance of artificial intelligence is growing

Secondary school teacher Lisa Häßel teaches chemistry and maths. But not full-time. In parallel to her everyday life as a teacher, she is conducting research at RPTU - in the field of chemistry didactics: for her doctoral thesis, she wants to find out how artificial intelligence, or AI for short, can be used in science lessons. She recommends that student teachers should also look into this topic. After all, three quarters of all pupils are already using the new technology - albeit mostly on their own initiative: ‘Schools need to take them by the hand better. To learn to assess risks properly.’

At Veldenz Gymnasium in Lauterecken, the subject ‘Artificial Intelligence’, or ‘AI’ for short, is now compulsory for year eight: ‘AI is on the timetable once a week. We take turns as teachers, like in a lecture series, with everyone contributing their specialist knowledge,’ reports teacher Lisa Häßel, who is not only responsible for organising the new subject at her school - but also for the content of the “prompting” section: she and her pupils explore the question of how to give an AI the right instructions to be able to control it.

In parallel to her everyday school life, Lisa Häßel is conducting research at RPTU in Kaiserslautern in the working group of Junior Professor Dr Seibert. As part of her doctoral thesis, the 32-year-old wants to find out how AI can be used in the classroom, as a learning assistant so to speak. More specifically, she is developing a chatbot that supports pupils in science lessons in the development of experiments.

She calls her chatbot version KIVa. In studies, she wants to compare this with a ‘raw’ chatbot version, a freely accessible version that she has not edited. In tests, intervention studies, she analyses whether and how effectively her students can work with KIVa: ‘In addition to learning effectiveness, I also look at how high the cognitive load is. Whether they are overwhelmed. Whether the pupils accept the new technology at all.’ And she compares whether KIVa, with its metacognitive prompts, supports pupils in self-regulated learning more efficiently than the ‘raw’ chatbot version.

In which teaching situations could KIVa be used? Lisa Häßel: ‘If I have 30 pupils in a class and they plan and develop an experiment - then KIVa can support each pupil individually and provide feedback.’ As a teacher, she can't look after everyone at the same time in situations like this. ‘In terms of content, the experiments are about the question of when something rusts, for example - and under what parameters. Or in biology, it's about the growth of plants. What happens if I change the parameters of light and fertiliser?’

Once everything is in place and the first tests with the pupils have been completed, she wants to offer teacher training courses on KIVa. ‘The architecture of the learning assistant is so flexible that it could easily be adapted to all science subjects.’

Lisa Häßel herself studied in Kaiserslautern, back then at the TU Kaiserslautern. In addition to her teaching subjects of chemistry and maths, she also has a teaching licence for biology, she explains. She was very well prepared for her profession in terms of her subject knowledge. She appreciates that she can remain loyal to her alma mater in the area of research: ‘At RPTU, I'm not the only one working on AI in subject didactics - we are several researchers. The content will be incorporated into teaching. In other words, in the training of student teachers.’

Three quarters of schoolchildren use AI - but schools have not played a major role so far

As experts in their subject, adds Lisa Häßel, teachers - but also student teachers - should know how AI can be used in their own subject: ‘An ethics teacher could focus on the ethical issues of AI, for example. A social studies teacher, perhaps in the run-up to an election, on deepfakes.’ In other words, recognising photo, video and voice recordings that look real but are artificially generated.

Artificial intelligence and schools - a future topic that everyone will have to face up to: ‘AI is becoming increasingly important in all areas. In education too. AI is here to stay.’ Studies show that three quarters of all pupils in Germany are already using the new technology. ‘And mostly on their own initiative,’ adds Lisa Häßel. Ideally, however, they would need to be taken by the hand so that they can take a critical look at the topic. ‘But so far, school has not been a factor when it comes to AI.’

Self-taught with AI as a student teacher - ‘to get a feel for it’

How can student teachers prepare for this challenging task? Lisa Häßel explains that she learnt a lot herself. ‘In addition to the theory, it's important to get to grips with the practice. In other words, how to communicate with a chatbot. So that you get a feel for it.’

Of course, AI is viewed with scepticism by some of her colleagues, she adds. ‘Some wonder whether a homework assignment was completed by the student themselves or by an AI. But teachers usually know their students very well and for a very long time - and can correctly classify their behaviour.’ Lisa Häßel thinks it's right that AI has a place in the classroom. And she welcomes the fact that computer science will be a compulsory subject at general education schools in Rhineland-Palatinate from the 2028/29 school year: ‘Hopefully, the content will not just be about what AI is. But also how it can be used for learning.’

Open to dialogue with other schools and teachers

If other schools and teachers are interested in her research work, they are welcome to contact her, adds Lisa Häßel. If time permits, she could also involve other pupils in her current research. ‘I'm open to suggestions and questions. I would also find it exciting to see how AI is used by other schools and in different subjects.’ Networking is important to her - and a very good thing. Ultimately, it's about making AI an enrichment for schools.