Opportunities and risks involved in using ChatGPT to create first grade science lesson plans

by Wardell Powell, Steven Courchesne

Generative AI can potentially support teachers in lesson planning by making the process of generating an outline more efficient. This qualitative study employed an exploratory case study design to examine a specific lesson design activity involving a series of prompts and responses from ChatGPT. The desired science lesson on heredity was aimed at first grade students. We analyzed the process’s efficiency, finding that within 30 minutes we could generate and substantially refine a lesson plan that accurately aligned with the desired curriculum framework and the 5E model of instruction. However, the iterations of the lesson plan included questionable components, missing details, and a fake resource. We discussed the implications of these findings for faculty looking to train pre-service teachers to appropriately use generative AI in lesson planning.