Improve the quality of lesson planning with AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) can already do a lot. But can AI also support teachers in planning lessons? German didactics experts at the University of Jena can now investigate this question in a new project. The research project "AI-supported didactic analysis in the practical semester" (KIDAN) by Dr Florian Hesse and Gerrit Helm will be funded by the "Foundation for Innovation in University Teaching" for two years from April with around 250,000 euros.

When young teachers stand in front of their classes, they have many ideas and goals in order to convey the right content to their pupils. To ensure that their lessons reach the class, the teachers ask themselves why and how the pupils should learn something. Teachers are prepared for this didactic analysis during their studies. Teacher trainees first notice whether the analysis works during the school placement semester. This is offered at Friedrich Schiller University in the fifth or sixth semester so that prospective teachers can experience how school works in reality at an early stage.

Guidance and support for didactic analysis

The new KIDAN project aims to investigate how student teachers use AI to carry out didactic analyses of subjects in German lessons. The aim is to develop a new support concept for the Jena practical semester that specifically addresses this requirement and combines it with the possibilities of generative artificial intelligence. For example, AI can act as a dialogue partner in the preparation of a literature lesson in order to exchange ideas about a literary text so that the potential and comprehension requirements of this text become visible. The scientists are also confident that AI can support the critical reflection of existing teaching material or the design of new teaching-learning environments.

"The didactic analysis is central to lesson planning. Teachers use it to determine what pupils should learn about the subject matter," says Florian Hesse, explaining the importance of this. "Previous studies during the school placement semester in Jena and at other locations suggest that students struggle with didactic analysis and therefore need guidance and support to successfully complete this task," adds Hesse.

Use AI: Yes or no?

To ensure that students succeed in using AI in a targeted manner, the new seminar concept for the Jena training programme aims to interlink and teach subject-specific didactic knowledge - e.g. on setting tasks or planning teaching conversations that promote learning - with knowledge about AI, such as technical basics and prompts. "This means," explains Gerrit Helm, "that one result of the seminar can also be to decide against the use of AI for content-related, didactic or ethical reasons."

The fact that Jena's German didactics department has acquired KIDAN and before the project "Schreiben mit KI im Lehramt" (Writing with AI in the teaching profession), which aims to promote AI skills among student teachers, spurs the young scientists on. "We are delighted to be able to expand the existing tender with this new project," says Gerrit Helm. Florian Hesse adds: "After all, this will not only increase the attractiveness of the Jena teacher training programme. Pioneering research into the use of AI in teacher professionalisation can also be carried out as part of the projects."