| The development of AI education in primary and secondary schools is flourishing,and the AI curriculum module has been incorporated into the curriculum system in the three standards of 2003,2017 and 2022,especially since 2017,with the promulgation of the "New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan",AI has become an indispensable module content of information technology courses in primary and secondary schools.With the strong support of relevant national policies,AI education in primary and secondary schools is gradually entering a period of rapid development.To carry out high-quality AI education in primary and secondary schools,we need to first focus on some of the challenges we are currently facing.Among them,the level of teachers teaching AI in primary and secondary schools directly affects the start,popularization,and development of AI education in primary and secondary schools at present and in the future.The majority of primary and secondary school AI curriculum implementation by the original IT teachers,AI education brings new challenges for primary and secondary school IT teachers,and puts forward higher requirements for the competence and quality of primary and secondary school IT teachers.Information technology teachers as the main force of AI education teachers,their knowledge,ability,literacy and other levels determine the implementation of the AI curriculum teaching effect.How to build a competent teacher team for AI curriculum teaching has become an urgent problem in the development process of AI education in primary and secondary schools.This study mainly carried out the following four tasks:(1)Through the literature research method,we clarified the research results about teaching competency,teaching competency of primary and secondary school teachers,and teaching competency of AI courses for primary and secondary school IT teachers at home and abroad,and defined the core concepts well.(2)Combining the relevant literature research,referring to the classical competency theoretical model and incorporating documents such as the Professional Standards for Primary and Secondary School Teachers(2012),we initially determined the teaching competency dimension system of AI courses for primary and secondary school IT teachers.Subsequently,through expert consultation and the opinions of front-line primary and secondary school IT teachers,the primary,secondary and tertiary dimensions were revised and improved by combining the content and teaching objectives of primary and secondary school AI courses,and the dimensional indicators and competency requirements of primary and secondary school IT teachers’ AI course teaching competency were finally clarified.(3)On the basis of the above work,a survey questionnaire and an interview outline were prepared to investigate the current level of AI course teaching competency of primary and secondary school IT teachers in province H,and the survey data were statistically analyzed.(4)Based on the research on the current situation of the teaching competency of primary and secondary school IT teachers in AI courses and the problems sorted out,the optimization strategies of the teaching competency of primary and secondary school IT teachers in AI courses were constructed.The study found that the overall AI course teaching competency of primary and secondary school IT teachers was at a medium level,and there were some differences in the AI course teaching competency levels of different groups of primary and secondary school IT teachers.Among them,there were significant differences in the AI course teaching competency of primary and secondary school IT teachers in terms of their teaching years,titles,courses taught,education,gender,attention of school leaders,and the presence or absence of national teaching staff;there were no significant differences in age,grade level taught,and whether they were provincial capitals.For teaching AI courses,current primary and secondary school IT teachers have the following ability shortcomings: imperfect knowledge of subject development;teaching implementation ability needs to be improved;teaching enterprising is not strong;teachers’ subject background is complex and the teacher team structure is unreasonable.The root causes of the problems are:teachers’ subject development knowledge is not updated timely;teachers’ training content lacks relevance;teachers’ development motivation is not strong and lacks clear career planning;teachers’ sources are uneven.To promote the healthy development of AI education in primary and secondary schools and improve the competence of primary and secondary school IT teachers in teaching AI courses,this study proposes the following recommendations: update and expand teachers’ AI subject development knowledge;optimize precise training contents,guide and encourage teachers to participate in AI teaching practice;form teachers’ learning communities to promote AI teaching communication and collaboration;and strengthen AI-related professional teacher-training students. |
