When middle school math teachers completed an online professional development (PD) program that uses artificial intelligence to improve their math knowledge and teaching skills, their students' math performance improved.
This online professional development program relies on a virtual facilitator to present problems and provide feedback, aiming to enhance teachers' master y of knowledge and skills required. It covers why mathematical rules and procedures work and focuses on helping students employ instructional tools and strategies to overcome common struggles.
An experiment was conducted in which 53 middle school math teachers were randomly assigned to either this Al-based professional development or no additional training. On average, teachers spent 11 hours to complete the program. We then gave 1,727 of their students a math test. While students of these two groups of teachers started off with no difference in their math performance, the students taught by teachers who completed the program increased their mathematics performance by 0.18 points on average. This is a statistically significant gain that is equal to the average math performance difference between sixth and seventh graders in the study.
Teachers often have limited access to high-quality PD programs to improve their knowledge and teaching skills. Time conflicts or living in rural areas that are far from in-person professional development programs can prevent teachers from receiving the support they need. Additionally, many existing in-person professional development programs for teachers have little impact on student achievement. AI-based PD programs include opportunities for teachers to observe teaching practices. Teachers also receive real-time support from the program facilitators. The Al-supported virtual facilitator acting as a human instructor gives teachers authentic teaching activities to work on, asks questions and provides real-time feedback and guidance.
Advancements in AI technologies will allow researchers to develop more interactive, personalized learning environments for teachers. More importantly, AI-based PD programs can collect rich, real-time interaction data, which help make programs more effective. Despite billions of dollars being spent each year on professional development for teachers, research suggests that how teachers learn through professional development is not yet well understood.
