AI-integrated project-based learning as a pathway to quality education: Enhancing critical and creative thinking in pre-service teachers

Abstract

The commitment to Quality Education under SDG 4 calls for transformative pedagogical approaches that enable pre-service teachers to acquire advanced competencies in response to the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Extant literature has recognized the capacity of AI to drive transformative changes in education, limited empirical evidence has rigorously examined how AI-integrated project-based learning (AI-PjBL) fosters higher-order thinking skills and AI literacy among future educators. The present study is designed to investigate the structural relationships between AI-PjBL, critical thinking, creative thinking, and AI literacy in pre-service teachers. Employing a quantitative explanatory design, data were collected from [N = 104] pre-service teachers enrolled in teacher education programs through validated Likert-scale instruments. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was utilized to examine both direct and indirect pathways, with critical and creative thinking hypothesized as mediators between AI-PjBL and AI literacy. The results demonstrated that AI-PjBL significantly enhanced both critical and creative thinking, which in turn exerted strong mediating effects on the cultivation of AI literacy. These findings suggest that higher-order thinking skills constitute a crucial pathway through which AI-PjBL cultivates the competencies required for future-ready teachers. The integration of these results indicates the phenomenon of competitive mediation. Creative thinking mediation pathway becomes the dominant factor that bridges the relationship between AI-PjBL and AI literacy, while the critical thinking pathway acts as an inhibiting factor. Theoretically, This study enriches the body of knowledge on the integration of AI in education by advancing a conceptual model that integrates pedagogical design, cognitive skills, and technological literacy. Practically, the study underscores the need for teacher education curricula to embed AI-integrated project-based learning to prepare pre-service teachers as critical, creative, and AI-literate professionals capable of driving sustainable educational transformation.