Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) as the Artist of Chemistry Visuals: Chemistry Preservice Teachers’ Reflections on Visuals Created by GenAI

Today, with recent technological developments, the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has increased in education; thus, it is important to investigate how preservice chemistry teachers experience GenAI tools. The inclusion of macroscopic, symbolic, and particulate levels in learning chemical concepts necessitates the use of different representations in chemistry lessons. Preservice chemistry teachers may refer to GenAI to get an idea about the visualization or get them directly. The aim of this study is to examine the experiences and reflections of preservice chemistry teachers in creating visuals for chemical concepts that include three levels of representations using GenAI tools. In this phenomenological study, 22 preservice chemistry teachers studying in their senior year, in 2023 and 2024, at a public university in Türkiye were first given the “Experiences and Reflections on Visualizations Generated by AI Questionnaire” (ExpAI-VisQ) developed by researchers, consisting of three parts with 15 open-ended questions. In the first part of the ExpAI-VisQ, they were asked to describe their experiences with GenAI, and in the second part, they were asked to guide a GenAI tool to create a visual to be used to teach a particular chemistry concept and then to reflect on the visuals generated by GenAI. Then, individual interviews were conducted with 16 preservice teachers to better understand their experiences and views on the visuals created, as well as their PCK and TPACK. The findings of the study revealed that preservice chemistry teachers listed the strengths of the visuals created by GenAI as attractive, artistic, and interesting. However, they were not satisfied with the visuals due to the scientific content, pedagogical, and representational limitations. Some of them said that they could still use these visuals to initiate a discussion. Guided by the Variation Theory, preservice chemistry teachers’ reflections on chemistry visuals conveyed differences in their PCK and TPACK as well as the conceptions of AI. It can be suggested that working with GenAI tools to generate visuals may help preservice chemistry teachers develop skills needed for teaching chemistry as they critically look at these visuals through their PCK and TPACK lenses.