Prompt'n'Play: Improving Teachers' AI Literacy Through Secondary Learning Outcomes of a Serious Game

"Prompt'n'Play" examines whether facilitating an AI-focused serious board game for primary pupils can serve as situated professional learning that strengthens primary teachers' AI literacy and teaching agency. Using a single-group pre-post design with Likert-scale self-report measures, the study followed 15 primary school teachers who facilitated the game in their classrooms. The central thesis is that game-based facilitation can function as an indirect and practical route to teacher development in AI, complementing more conventional training formats.

The most notable findings concern teachers' perceived understanding of AI and their didactic use of AI, both of which improved significantly after the intervention, with large and very large effect sizes (Wilcoxon p = .018, r = .67 for understanding; p = .008, r = .84 for didactic use). Daily AI use showed only a non-significant positive trend (p = .094). A counterintuitive pattern also emerged: greater perceived AI understanding was negatively correlated with future intention to use AI and with conscious use, which the authors interpret as a more cautious and critical stance toward the technology rather than a decline in competence.

The study's scope is narrow. It involved a small, self-reported sample of 15 teachers in primary education and a short-term observation window, which limits generalizability and precludes firm causal claims. The authors frame the results as promising but preliminary, and the broader literature the paper draws on, including work on teacher confidence, AI-TPACK development, and AI literacy in primary schools, suggests that the field is actively seeking effective ways to prepare teachers for AI integration.