AI Integration in Education During Practicum: Attitudes, Perceptions, Anxiety, and Digital Competence of Field Study Students

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an important component of modern education, offering innovative opportunities to enhance teaching, learning, assessment, and instructional planning in schools. Understanding how pre-service teachers perceive and use AI during their practicum is essential for preparing them to integrate emerging technologies into future classroom practices. This study examined the demographic profiles, level of AI exposure, AI tools commonly used, attitudes toward AI, perceptions of AI, AI-related anxiety, and the relationships among attitude, perception, AI-related anxiety, and digital competence of 55 field study students. A descriptive-correlational research design was employed using a structured and validated questionnaire administered to purposively selected respondents. Descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, were used to summarize the data, whereas Pearson’s product-moment correlation determined the relationships among the major variables. The findings revealed that most respondents had moderate exposure to AI tools and primarily used ChatGPT and Google Gemini during their practicum placements. The respondents demonstrated positive attitudes and perceptions toward AI integration in science education, while AI-related anxiety was generally neutral, indicating moderate concerns regarding privacy, ethics, and dependence on AI use. Correlation analysis showed significant positive relationships between attitude, perception, and digital competence, whereas AI-related anxiety was negatively associated with these variables. These findings suggest that greater digital competence and favorable perceptions contribute to stronger readiness for AI integration in science teaching. Strengthening AI literacy, ethical awareness, and practical AI training in teacher education programmes is recommended to enhance preservice teachers' confidence and competence in effectively and responsibly integrating AI into future classroom instruction.