A Descriptive Study: Assessing Elementary School Teachers’ Cognitive Understanding of Artificial Intelligence in Pedagogical Contexts

Abstract

This study investigates elementary school teachers’ cognitive understanding of artificial intelligence (AI), with a particular focus on their utilization of ChatGPT and Gemini within pedagogical settings. Employing a descriptive quantitative design, data from 60 teachers were collected through a Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using mean scores, percentage distributions, and categorical interpretations to obtain a comprehensive depiction of teachers’ conceptual and practical knowledge of AI. The overall results indicate a moderately high level of cognitive understanding (M = 3.78; 75.6%), with the highest competence demonstrated in AI-assisted lesson planning (80%), followed by basic conceptual knowledge of AI (77%). Meanwhile, ethical literacy emerged as the weakest domain (70%), revealing variability in teachers’ awareness of issues such as algorithmic bias, misinformation, privacy concerns, and responsible digital practices. These findings suggest that teachers are increasingly capable of leveraging AI to support instructional design, administrative tasks, and classroom activities; however, their ethical comprehension has not yet developed proportionally to their technical adoption. This imbalance underscores the need for structured professional development programs that integrate both technical training and ethical frameworks for AI use in schools. Strengthening teachers’ AI literacy is therefore essential to ensure that AI technologies are applied safely, pedagogically aligned, and contextually relevant to students’ developmental needs. The study highlights the urgency of developing clear institutional guidelines and policy support to foster responsible and equitable AI integration within the elementary education system.