Pedagogical Biases in AI-Powered Educational Tools: The Case of Lesson Plan Generators
Keywords:
generative AI, pedagogy, lesson planning, digital innovation, educational technologyAbstract
This paper examines pedagogical biases in AI-powered educational tools, focusing specifically on lesson plan generators. We investigate how these tools may implicitly embed outdated educational approaches that limit student agency and classroom dialogue. Through analysis of 90 lesson plans from commercial lesson plan generators, we found that AI-generated content predominantly promotes teacher-centered classrooms with limited opportunities for student choice, goal-setting, and meaningful dialogue. To mitigate this issue, we further experimented with intentional prompt engineering, which showed promise in significantly enhancing these dimensions in AI-generated lesson plans. We offer practical strategies for educators and developers to mitigate harmful pedagogical biases while promoting contemporary educational values. This work contributes to the critical conversation about how AI tools should be designed and used to support, rather than undermine, the future of education that values student agency and productive classroom dialogue.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Bodong Chen, Jiayu Cheng, Chen Wang, Vivian Leung (Author)
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