Abstract:

Initial teacher education requires learning experiences that enable future teachers to develop pedagogical, digital and reflective competences for designing meaningful science learning environments. In this context, this paper presents an educational innovation implemented in the course Didactics of Natural Sciences II within the bachelor’s degree in Primary Education at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. The proposal focuses on the design of interactive digital learning resources aimed at teaching basic Chemistry concepts to primary school pupils.

The main objective of this experience is to foster professional competences related to inquiry-based science teaching, the pedagogical integration of digital technologies and reflective thinking about instructional design processes. To achieve this aim, university students work in collaborative groups to create an interactive digital resource intended for pupils aged between 6 and 12 years. Each resource must be structured as a complete learning situation aligned with the official curriculum and organized through a coherent instructional sequence that includes an initial challenge or question, a set of inquiry-based learning activities and a final synthesis stage connected to everyday contexts. Activities are designed to promote active participation and to encourage key processes of scientific thinking such as questioning, predicting outcomes, experimenting, analyzing results and communicating conclusions.

The project also incorporates a metacognitive and ethical dimension through the development of a dual e-portfolio documenting the design process. This portfolio includes a pedagogical decision-making diary in which students justify their instructional choices, a declaration of ethical co-creation that specifies the use of generative artificial intelligence tools and the prompts employed, and a collaborative audit describing the distribution of responsibilities within each group. This approach seeks to promote critical reflection on both the design process and the responsible use of emerging technologies in educational contexts.

Assessment of the project is carried out through an analytical rubric that evaluates several dimensions of the work developed: curricular alignment and instructional architecture, quality of the inquiry-based and experimental design of the activities, sequencing and cognitive load of the digital resource, strategies for inclusion and cooperative learning, depth of metacognitive reflection in the e-portfolio and transparency in the use of artificial intelligence.

Overall, the experience aims to strengthen digital teaching competence, the ability to design inquiry-based science activities and reflective pedagogical thinking in pre-service teachers. Furthermore, the explicit integration of artificial intelligence within the design process promotes a critical and ethically responsible perspective on the use of emerging technologies in education. The proposal illustrates how the design of digital educational resources can connect theoretical knowledge from science education with authentic professional practice in initial teacher training.

Keywords:

Initial teacher education, science education, digital educational resources, inquiry-based learning, digital competence, artificial intelligence in education.