AI-Supported Exploration of Plate Tectonics and Landforms Using Google Earth and Copilot
This presentation reports on a small-scale intervention case study examining how an AI-supported learning activity, integrating Google Earth and Copilot, can strengthen teacher students’ understanding of plate tectonics and associated landforms, as well as their ability to adapt such activities for secondary school teaching. During the intervention, participants engage in a virtual fieldwork task in which they explore tectonic processes and landforms using Google Earth, with Copilot providing guidance, explanations, formative diagnostic assessments, and opportunities for deeper inquiry. After completing the activity, the students evaluate their own learning process and redesign the task for grade 9 learners. Their reflections and redesigned activities form the empirical basis for analyzing how AI-supported virtual fieldwork can shape both conceptual learning and pedagogical reasoning.The study illustrates how AI-enhanced virtual fieldwork can help teachers develop their technological pedagogical content knowledge by highlighting both opportunities and challenges of incorporating Google Earth and Copilot into teacher education and school teaching. The study offers insight into how AI tools can assist learners’ work with complex spatial data, support sense-making, and stimulate reflection on disciplinary content. At the same time, it reveals tensions associated with the integration of AI in teaching, including issues of accuracy, over-reliance, and the need for critical evaluation of AI-generated explanations. More broadly, the study contributes to ongoing discussions about meaningful and responsible use of AI in education and calls attention to key pedagogical considerations for emerging digital tools.