The chatbot "ChatGPT" was released by the company OpenAI at the end of November 2022 and has since caused a stir in all areas of society. With this digital tool, text-based tasks can be processed by an AI (artificial intelligence). This development is viewed critically, especially in the educational landscape, and there are fears about its unreflective use, especially in the preparation of homework. However, this technology exists and we should therefore engage with it and not try to banish it from schools or universities. One group of people who are particularly affected by the impact of this new and currently freely available technology are student teachers. On the one hand, they can use the tool for their own education, and on the other hand, they need to prepare themselves for how they, as teachers, will use AI tools in their future teaching.
In addition, many teacher candidates still have deficiencies in planning an activating chemistry lesson even in the master's program. They often fail to actively apply the principles of good teaching learned in their studies to their own lesson planning. In the practical semester, it becomes apparent time and again that lesson planning and preparation take up a lot of time, especially for beginners. In doing so, they often proceed inefficiently. This is where an "AI learning assistant" in the form of a chatbot like ChatGPT could provide support.
In order to address these two problems in current teacher training, a seminar concept was developed for the master's degree program in chemistry education at the University of Potsdam that explicitly provides for the use of an AI. With the help of ChatGPT, students are to create and critically reflect on various elements of lesson planning, such as sequence plans, lesson plans, or work materials. As accompanying research, the planning elements will be analyzed qualitatively and students will be interviewed about their competence gains and learning motivation. The project is led by Dr. Michele Brott and is part of the project series Innovative Lehrprojekte at the University of Potsdam.