Students' Critical Thinking Skills And Artificial Intelligence Instructional Strategies Of Teachers In Social Studies

Abstract

This study assessed the students’ critical thinking skills and the utilization of artificial intelligence instructional strategies in Social Studies teaching among public junior high school teachers in the Division of Tanauan City and Sto. Tomas City. Specifically, it aimed to determine the level of the students’ critical thinking skills in the use of Artificial Intelligence, the extent of utilization of AI used by the teachers in developing the students’ critical thinking skills, relationship between the assessments on the students’ level of critical thinking and the extent of utilization of the AI instructional strategies, the ethical challenges encountered by the teachers in using AI tools, and the development of a proposed policy brief.

The study employed a descriptive research design using a researcher-made questionnaire and interview as instruments. Respondents were 92 out of 119 public junior high school Social Studies teachers in the Division of Tanauan City and Sto. Tomas City. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, rank, weighted mean, and Pearson’s r Coefficient.

Findings revealed that students demonstrate an above-average level of critical thinking skills when using various Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools as assessed by the teachers. The utilization of Artificial intelligence tools instructional strategies were moderately utilized, as assessed by the Social Studies teachers in their teaching. Also, there was a significant and very strong positive relationship between the students’ level of critical thinking skills and the extent of AI instructional strategy utilization by teachers. Social Studies teachers in SDO Tanauan City and Sto. Tomas City experienced several challenges in the utilization of Artificial Intelligence tools, particularly in relation to data privacy protection, academic integrity, and the potential dependency of students on AI technologies. The proposed policy brief can help the Social Studies teachers to be guided on how to properly integrate and utilize different AI tools in the teaching and learning process. Also, through the help of this, it will ensure that AI driven technological tools are used responsibly, ethically, and effectively in Social Studies education.