Concepções de professores e estudantes do ensino médio sobre inteligência artificial na educação

Abstract

With advances in science and technology, society is undergoing significant changes in all areas. Among these changes, artificial intelligence (AI) is a resource that has been gaining increasing prominence in various fields, especially in the commercial sector. In the educational field, this resource has been attractive, especially to students, due to its ability to generate texts and images according to specifications. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the conceptions of high school teachers and students about AI and its applicability in education. Based on this objective, the following specific objectives were established: to explain how high school teachers and students at the Colégio de Aplicação (CODAP) of the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS) understand artificial intelligence in the educational context; to describe students' relationship with artificial intelligence in their daily lives and in the school context; and to identify the influence of continuing education in contemporary technologies, especially AI, on teachers' pedagogical concepts and practices. This is a qualitative study with a descriptive case study approach proposed by Yin (2014). Data collection involved six stages: 1) A bibliographic survey of works on the topic in Brazil between 2015 and 2024 in the following repositories: Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD), Journals of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), and the Institutional Repository of the Federal University of Sergipe (RIUFS); 2) Tests using generative AI chatbots (IAGen), ChatGPT (OpenAI), and Copilot (Microsoft); 3) An online application of a semi-structured questionnaire in Google Forms aimed at recording the conceptions of 41 high school students from CODAP about AI and its uses in daily life; 4) Online administration of a semi-structured questionnaire on Google Forms with seven high school teachers from CODAP about their concepts related to AI and their training in contemporary technologies; 5) Transcription of the collected data; and 6) Analysis and interpretation of the data. To analyze the subjective responses, the "Thematic Categorical Analysis" sub-technique was used, following assumptions from Bardin's perspective (2021). Regarding the objective questions, a descriptive analysis was performed to interpret the data. The results revealed that teachers and students have some knowledge of AI, with most having already used this technology in various contexts. Conceptions about these resources oscillated between an instrumental perspective, in which AI was seen as a "tool" to streamline research and solve academic tasks for students, and a more critical perspective, which recognized its potential and educational applicability but also highlighted significant challenges, such as the opacity and biases embedded in algorithms, factual inconsistencies, the lack of clear references to information sources, and the cognitive accommodation generated by a lack of reflection and research. Furthermore, faculty members emphasized the importance of training that addresses not only technical aspects but also promotes reflection on the influence of contemporary technologies on pedagogical practices and the ethical dilemmas involved in their use.