ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AWARENESS, DIGITAL COMPETENCE AND TECHNOLOGICAL PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as digital competence have been revealed to be one of the forces driving the education sector around the world. The study determined the influence of AI awareness and digital competence on the technological pedagogical content knowledge of final year pre-service science teachers in the Southwestern, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Population for the study comprised all final year pre-service science teachers in federal universities in southwestern, Nigeria. Sample size consisted of 150 respondents which were selected from three federal universities in the region. A structured questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection for the study. The instrument was validated by experts, trial tested and the reliability was tested using Cronbach Alpha. The instrument had three sections of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge questionnaire; awareness of AI specifically for education purpose and Digital competence scale with reliability index of 0.72, 0.81 and 0.76 respectively. The findings of the study showed that there was a moderate level of awareness of AI among the respondents $(\bar{x}=3.53)$. The level of Digital competence of the teachers was high $(\bar{x}=3.94)$. The study further revealed that there is a significant influence of AI awareness and digital competence on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge of preservice final year science teachers in federal universities in southwestern Nigeria $(F=14.281, p<0.05)$. The study concluded that pre-service science teachers need AI awareness and digital competence to build their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge.