The impact of artificial intelligence on maker education: Motivation and technology acceptance in teacher training

Abstract

In recent decades, the integration of emerging technologies, such as maker education and artificial intelligence, into the educational field has become a prominent area of research. The purpose of this article is to explore whether the introduction of generative artificial intelligence into the design process of maker projects by future teachers produces benefits. Specifically, a comparison was made between the perceptions of trainee teachers who experimented with the use of generative artificial intelligence and those who did not use it during the development of teaching and learning designs. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 114 trainee teachers from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), who received training in maker education and designed teaching and learning plans based on this approach. The results of the comparison indicate a significant difference between the two groups across all analyzed dimensions, highlighting that the group working with artificial intelligence demonstrated greater motivation, particularly in terms of attention and acceptance of maker education. The findings suggest that the design process of future AI-based maker interventions should be explored more thoroughly in several dimensions related to the integration of emerging technologies.