In one qualitative interview study, science teachers report that AI tools let students experience risky or inaccessible phenomena and practise virtually before real lab work¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? AI lets students safely experience scientific phenomena that are distant, risky, or beyond human perception, such as high-voltage circuits. → Li 2025 q2 i? Virtual practice bridges to real-world lab work, with students virtually trying materials before using real ones. → Li 2025 (2)

Evidence¶

Li 2025¶

Li, S. (2025). Artificial Intelligence in Science Learning within the Framework of Situated Learning Theory: A Qualitative Investigation of Teachers' Perspectives. Creative Education, 16, 1858-1882. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2025.1611114

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

RQ3 finding from the teacher study. Teachers described AI recreating environments like polar regions or toxic-gas laboratories, simulating a 220 V wire shock safely, and reconstructing past weather conditions for authentic context.

"AI tools enhance contextualized and authentic learning by allowing students to experience scientific phenomena that are normally distant, risky, or beyond the limits of human perception."

Li 2025 (2)¶

Li, S. (2025). Artificial Intelligence in Science Learning within the Framework of Situated Learning Theory: A Qualitative Investigation of Teachers' Perspectives. Creative Education, 16, 1858-1882. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2025.1611114

q2 · i? · qualitative · r?

RQ3 theme on bridging virtual and real-world practice. Repeated virtual practice made students' operations more standardized in actual lab work, and some students continued experimenting with electronic components at home.

"Teachers noted that students could "try all materials virtually first, then use real ones," which made learning "both enjoyable and clearer" (Teacher 08)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Adult learners expect AI to support transformative and experiential learning through assumption-challenging simulations, role play, and authentic virtual contexts — related
• Students reported that the virtual-lab lesson made learning fun, helped them figure out concepts themselves, and supported thinking like real scientists — related
• The closer training content is to authentic clinical scenarios, the smoother its translation into practice — related
• Integrating literacy and science within authentic real-world experiences can produce greater learning in both areas than teaching either separately — related
• AI-driven situated learning reshapes education by enhancing authenticity and transforming evaluation into assessment woven into the learning process — a broader claim this one bears on
• Pretraining learners on a system's key parts and terms before the main lesson improved knowledge and real-world transfer in one VR experiment, and is reported second-hand to improve learning in multimedia studies — related
• Physical Experience Enhances Science Learning — related
• Learners valued safe, repeatable, nonjudgmental AI practice environments that reduced anxiety and bridged the theory-practice gap — related
• Teachers report AI tools enhance students' higher-order scientific skills including experimental design, inquiry, hypothesis testing, and argumentation — related
• Digital tools complemented hands-on investigations by providing opportunities not possible in the classroom and letting children easily practice what they learned in hands-on activities. — related
• Simulator-based VET instruction in this study centres on volume training of routine tasks rather than rehearsing specific high-stakes, risky situations. — related