ArticleBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2026
The Impact of Unscaffolded GenAI Use on Pre-Service Teachers' AI Readiness, Self-Regulated Learning, Critical Thinking, and Instructional Design Performance: A Quasi-Experimental Study.
Article in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Although GenAI has been increasingly applied in pre-service teacher education, limited evidence is available on how permitted but unscaffolded GenAI use affects pre-service teachers' learning and professional development in authentic course contexts. Grounded in cognitive load theory and the zone of proximal development, this quasi-experimental study examined the effects of unscaffolded GenAI use in an 11-week instructional design course. Two intact sophomore classes at a normal university participated, with one class permitted to use GenAI without prompt templates or instructional guidance and the other not permitted to use GenAI. Data were analyzed using paired-samples t-tests and a one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). After controlling for pretest scores, no significant group differences were found in AI readiness, self-regulated learning, or critical thinking, whereas the control group showed stronger instructional design performance. Within-group comparisons showed that both groups improved in AI readiness and instructional design performance, but not in self-regulated learning or critical thinking. These findings suggest that, in this course context, unscaffolded GenAI access alone may be insufficient to support pre-service teachers' professional learning and may be less favorable for their instructional design performance.
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