Understanding how k-12 science teachers' use of AI to modify high-quality open education resources reshapes their participatory relationship with curriculum

The National Science Foundation Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings awarded Horizon Research Inc. $362,513 on September 1, 2026, under the STEM Education program to study how K–12 science teachers use artificial intelligence to modify high-quality open educational resources.

Horizon Research Inc. will conduct a mixed-methods study examining teachers' use of AI to adapt OpenSciEd, a specific high-quality K–12 science instructional material. The research will deploy a teacher survey distributed to 500 middle and high school science teachers addressing the types of modifications they make with AI, their reasons for modifications, and perceived impacts. From survey respondents, 70 teachers will be purposefully selected across grade levels and course subjects for in-depth interviews about their AI-enabled modification practices. Analysis of survey and interview data will generate knowledge to inform the development of AI tools designed to support teachers using high-quality open educational resources—both by suggesting modifications aligned with the materials' design principles and by deepening teachers' understanding of those principles and their implementation in instruction. Study findings will extend beyond OpenSciEd to inform AI tool development for other high-quality open educational resources.

Performance occurs in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The project runs from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2028.

Abstract

High-quality open education resources (oers) have the potential to positively transform k-12 science instruction, making high-quality instructional materials available at no cost and empowering teachers to provide state-of-the-art science learning opportunities to far more students than possible otherwise. Increasingly, however, teachers are using artificial intelligence (AI) to modify these materials. Because AI is proliferating rapidly, teachers urgently need AI tools designed for them, and that are well grounded in both the research on teachers' needs and the design principles on which the curriculum materials are based. The project, led by horizon research, INC, will study how and why science teachers use AI to modify a specific high-quality k?12 science instructional material, openscied. Knowledge generated through this research will enable developers to build AI tools that support teachers using such materials, both by suggesting modifications that align with the materials' design principles and by developing teachers' understanding of those principles and how to enact instruction that aligns with them. Study findings will inform the development of AI for other high-quality oers, not just openscied. The project will develop both a teacher survey and an in-depth interview protocol to collect data about middle and high school science teachers' use of AI to modify high-quality oers. Survey and interview questions will address teachers' types of modification, reasons for modifications, and perceived impacts of modifications. Five hundred middle and high school teachers will complete the survey. From the pool of survey respondents, 70 will be purposefully chosen across grade levels and course subjects for in-depth interviews about their use of AI for modification. Analysis of survey and interview data will generate profiles of AI use (goals, modification strategies, and perceived outcomes). We will draw across all these analyses for our overarching goal of understanding how AI reshapes a teacher?s relationship with their curriculum. This project is funded by the stem k-12 program, which supports fundamental, applied, and translational research on stem learning in both formal k-12 education and informal learning environments.? This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.