Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping how students process information, solve problems, and complete schoolwork. While AI tools hold significant promise for supporting learning, their uncritical or inappropriate use risks undermining the very scientific competencies that science teachers seek to develop in students. This talk examines how common patterns of teacher and student AI use can inadvertently weaken scientific thinking and epistemic agency if left unaddressed. Drawing on findings from science education research, this talk will clarify what is at stake when students outsource sense-making to AI, and why learning of science cannot be reduced to the mere production of correct answers. The talk will then shift attention to a professional learning agenda: how can science teachers help students develop the required digital literacy, judgement, and learning dispositions to use AI productively in classrooms. It is my hope that after this session, participants will leave with a clearer conceptual framework for navigating AI use in science classrooms and possess a renewed focus for the development of scientifically competent, digitally literate students in the era of AI.

About Speaker

Edwin Chng (Asst Prof) is an assistant professor of science education at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. Prior to joining NIE, Edwin was trained as a secondary school Physics and Biology teacher in Singapore. During his time as a schoolteacher, Edwin has had teaching and curriculum leadership experience in two local secondary schools, as well as a short research analyst stint with Research & Management Information Division, Ministry of Education, Singapore. Edwin’s current research interest lies in the extraction of relevant student information from classrooms to support evidence-based intervention strategies. As such, he works primarily in the fields of multimodal learning analytics, educational data mining, and artificial intelligence (AI) in education. With the use of student pose and gaze data, Edwin has studied how students collaborate and how teachers facilitate in open-ended learning environments such as makerspaces. With the use of computer vision, Edwin has examined the deployment of AI agents to support science teachers with informed pedagogical and technological considerations. Overall, Edwin is interested in the educated use of technological innovations to augment teaching and learning in traditional classrooms. 

(Learn more about Asst/P Edwin Chng at: Asst Prof Edwin CHNG | School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering | NTU Singapore)