Factors influencing teachers’ adoption of artificial intelligence tools in K-12 education
Abstract
The recent proliferation of Artificial Intelligence in Education, generative AI in education and intelligent learning classrooms has revolutionized the practice of K-12 education, and the uptake of AI-based instructional aids by teachers, however, is not uniform because of various technological, pedagogical and structural impediments. It is essential to comprehend the contexts that can make teachers adopt artificial intelligence tools as such understanding will guarantee the successful digital transformation of education and long-term educational innovation. This work has provided a literature review of the research work based on the PRISMA 2020 framework and synthesized the recent high-impact studies on the topic of AI adoption, teacher acceptance, and educational technology adoption. The research has systematically reviewed the available empirical and theoretical literature on the adoption utilizing models like the Technology Acceptance Model, UTAUT, and other extended models with the addition of AI literacy, teacher self-efficacy, institutional support, facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence. Results show that the behavioral intention of teachers to use AI tools is highly influenced by perceived usefulness, ease of use, professional development opportunities, ethical concerns, and the organizational readiness and the emerging themes demonstrate the increased role of human-AI collaboration, adaptive learning, and responsible ethical AI in education. The synthesis also indicates that the key to effective implementation of AI in K-12 education lies not merely in technical infrastructure but also in the alignment of the pedagogy and in the support of the policies as well as the continuous training of AI readiness.
Full text article
References
[1] Dogan ME, Goru Dogan T, Bozkurt A. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in online learning and distance education processes: A systematic review of empirical studies. Applied sciences. 2023 Feb 27;13(5):3056. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13053056
[2] Ayanwale MA, Frimpong EK, Opesemowo OA, Sanusi IT. Exploring factors that support pre-service teachers' engagement in learning artificial intelligence. Journal for STEM Education Research. 2025 Apr;8(2):199-229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41979-024-00121-4
[3] Ruiz Viruel S, Sánchez Rivas E, Ruiz Palmero J. The role of artificial intelligence in project-based learning: Teacher perceptions and pedagogical implications. Education Sciences. 2025 Jan 26;15(2):150. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15020150
[4] Hanna MG, Pantanowitz L, Dash R, Harrison JH, Deebajah M, Pantanowitz J, Rashidi HH. Future of artificial intelligence (AI)-machine learning (ML) trends in pathology and medicine. Modern Pathology. 2025 Jan 4:100705. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.modpat.2025.100705
[5] Alier M, Pereira J, Garcia-Penalvo FJ, Casan MJ, Cabre J. LAMB: An open-source software framework to create artificial intelligence assistants deployed and integrated into learning management systems. Computer Standards & Interfaces. 2025 Mar 1;92:103940. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csi.2024.103940
[6] Yuan L, Liu X. The effect of artificial intelligence tools on EFL learners' engagement, enjoyment, and motivation. Computers in Human Behavior. 2025 Jan 1;162:108474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108474
[7] Karataş F, Eriçok B, Tanrikulu L. Reshaping curriculum adaptation in the age of artificial intelligence: Mapping teachers' AI‐driven curriculum adaptation patterns. British Educational Research Journal. 2025 Feb;51(1):154-80. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4068
[8] Ahuja AS, Polascik BW, Doddapaneni D, Byrnes ES, Sridhar J. The digital metaverse: Applications in artificial intelligence, medical education, and integrative health. Integrative Medicine Research. 2023 Mar 1;12(1):100917. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imr.2022.100917
[9] Thurzo A, Strunga M, Urban R, Surovková J, Afrashtehfar KI. Impact of artificial intelligence on dental education: a review and guide for curriculum update. Education Sciences. 2023 Jan 31;13(2):150. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13020150
[10] Shidiq M. The use of artificial intelligence-based chat-gpt and its challenges for the world of education; from the viewpoint of the development of creative writing skills. InProceeding of international conference on education, society and humanity 2023 May 30 (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 353-357).
[11] Alqahtani N, Wafula Z. Artificial intelligence integration: Pedagogical strategies and policies at leading universities. Innovative Higher Education. 2025 Apr;50(2):665-84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-024-09749-x
[12] Hardaker G, Glenn LE. Artificial intelligence for personalized learning: a systematic literature review. The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology. 2025 Jan 13;42(1):1-4. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-07-2024-0160
[13] Tuygunov N, Samaranayake L, Khurshid Z, Rewthamrongsris P, Schwendicke F, Osathanon T, Yahya NA. The transformative role of artificial intelligence in dentistry: a comprehensive overview part 2: the promise and perils, and the international dental federation communique. International Dental Journal. 2025 Feb 25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.identj.2025.02.006
[14] Wang C, Wang H, Li Y, Dai J, Gu X, Yu T. Factors influencing university students' behavioral intention to use generative artificial intelligence: Integrating the theory of planned behavior and AI literacy. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. 2025 Jun 3;41(11):6649-71. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2024.2383033
[15] Wang Y, Derakhshan A, Ghiasvand F. EFL teachers' generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) literacy: A scale development and validation study. System. 2025 Jul 25:103791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2025.103791
[16] Kurian N. AI's empathy gap: The risks of conversational Artificial Intelligence for young children's well-being and key ethical considerations for early childhood education and care. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. 2025 Mar;26(1):132-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491231206004
[17] Winkler C, Hammoda B, Noyes E, Van Gelderen M. Entrepreneurship education at the dawn of generative artificial intelligence. Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy. 2023 Oct 26;6(4):579-89. https://doi.org/10.1177/25151274231198799
[18] Bozkurt A. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) powered conversational educational agents: The inevitable paradigm shift. Asian Journal of Distance Education. 2023 Mar 31;18(1).
[19] Wang T, Lund BD, Marengo A, Pagano A, Mannuru NR, Teel ZA, Pange J. Exploring the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on international students in higher education: Generative AI, chatbots, analytics, and international student success. Applied Sciences. 2023 May 31;13(11):6716. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13116716
[20] Crompton H, Jones MV, Burke D. Affordances and challenges of artificial intelligence in K-12 education: A systematic review. Journal of research on technology in education. 2024 May 3;56(3):248-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2022.2121344
[21] Lee GG, Mun S, Shin MK, Zhai X. Collaborative learning with artificial intelligence speakers: pre-service elementary science teachers' responses to the prototype. Science & Education. 2025 Apr;34(2):847-75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-024-00526-y
[22] An X, Chai CS, Li Y, Zhou Y, Yang B. Modeling students' perceptions of artificial intelligence assisted language learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning. 2025 Jul 4;38(5-6):987-1008. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2023.2246519
[23] Leal Filho W, Ribeiro PC, Mazutti J, Lange Salvia A, Bonato Marcolin C, Lima Silva Borsatto JM, Sharifi A, Sierra J, Luetz J, Pretorius R, Viera Trevisan L. Using artificial intelligence to implement the UN sustainable development goals at higher education institutions. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology. 2024 Aug 17;31(6):726-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2024.2327584
[24] Gardner J, O'Leary M, Yuan L. Artificial intelligence in educational assessment:'Breakthrough? Or buncombe and ballyhoo?'. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. 2021 Oct;37(5):1207-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12577
[25] Benvenuti M, Cangelosi A, Weinberger A, Mazzoni E, Benassi M, Barbaresi M, Orsoni M. Artificial intelligence and human behavioral development: A perspective on new skills and competences acquisition for the educational context. Computers in Human Behavior. 2023 Nov 1;148:107903. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107903
[26] López-Chila R, Llerena-Izquierdo J, Sumba-Nacipucha N, Cueva-Estrada J. Artificial intelligence in higher education: An analysis of existing bibliometrics. Education sciences. 2023 Dec 31;14(1):47. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14010047
[27] Walter Y. Embracing the future of Artificial Intelligence in the classroom: the relevance of AI literacy, prompt engineering, and critical thinking in modern education. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. 2024 Feb 26;21(1):15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-024-00448-3
[28] Ng DT, Chan EK, Lo CK. Opportunities, challenges and school strategies for integrating generative AI in education. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence. 2025 Jan 25:100373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2025.100373
[29] Hwang GJ, Tu YF. Roles and research trends of artificial intelligence in mathematics education: A bibliometric mapping analysis and systematic review. Mathematics. 2021 Mar 10;9(6):584. https://doi.org/10.3390/math9060584
[30] Choi S, Jang Y, Kim H. Influence of pedagogical beliefs and perceived trust on teachers' acceptance of educational artificial intelligence tools. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. 2023 Feb 25;39(4):910-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2022.2049145
[31] Khosravi H, Shum SB, Chen G, Conati C, Tsai YS, Kay J, Knight S, Martinez-Maldonado R, Sadiq S, Gašević D. Explainable artificial intelligence in education. Computers and education: artificial intelligence. 2022 Jan 1;3:100074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2022.100074
[32] Chaudhry MA, Kazim E. Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIEd): A high-level academic and industry note 2021. AI and Ethics. 2022 Feb;2(1):157-65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-021-00074-z
[33] Law L. Application of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in language teaching and learning: A scoping literature review. Computers and Education Open. 2024 Jun 1;6:100174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2024.100174
[34] Barrett A, Pack A. Not quite eye to AI: Student and teacher perspectives on the use of generative artificial intelligence in the writing process. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. 2023 Nov 10;20(1):59. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-023-00427-0
[35] Hwang GJ, Tang KY, Tu YF. How artificial intelligence (AI) supports nursing education: profiling the roles, applications, and trends of AI in nursing education research (1993-2020). Interactive Learning Environments. 2024 Jan 2;32(1):373-92. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2022.2086579
[36] El-Sayed BK, El-Sayed AA, Alsenany SA, Asal MG. The role of artificial intelligence literacy and innovation mindset in shaping nursing students' career and talent self-efficacy. Nurse Education in Practice. 2025 Jan 1;82:104208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2024.104208
[37] Bhuyan SS, Sateesh V, Mukul N, Galvankar A, Mahmood A, Nauman M, Rai A, Bordoloi K, Basu U, Samuel J. Generative artificial intelligence use in healthcare: opportunities for clinical excellence and administrative efficiency. Journal of medical systems. 2025 Jan 16;49(1):10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-024-02136-1
[38] Demaidi MN. Artificial intelligence national strategy in a developing country. Ai & Society. 2025 Feb;40(2):423-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-023-01779-x
[39] Belkina M, Daniel S, Nikolic S, Haque R, Lyden S, Neal P, Grundy S, Hassan GM. Implementing generative AI (GenAI) in higher education: A systematic review of case studies. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence. 2025 Apr 10:100407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2025.100407
[40] Li Y, Zhou X, Chiu TK. Systematics review on artificial intelligence chatbots and ChatGPT for language learning and research from self-determination theory (SDT): what are the roles of teachers?. Interactive Learning Environments. 2025 Mar 16;33(3):1850-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2024.2400090
[41] Guo Y, Wang Y. Exploring the effects of artificial intelligence application on EFL students' academic engagement and emotional experiences: A Mixed‐Methods study. European Journal of Education. 2025 Mar;60(1):e12812. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12812
[42] Ahmad K, Iqbal W, El-Hassan A, Qadir J, Benhaddou D, Ayyash M, Al-Fuqaha A. Data-driven artificial intelligence in education: A comprehensive review. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies. 2023 Sep 12;17:12-31. https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2023.3314610
[43] Cope B, Kalantzis M, Searsmith D. Artificial intelligence for education: Knowledge and its assessment in AI-enabled learning ecologies. Educational philosophy and theory. 2021 Oct 15;53(12):1229-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1728732
[44] Lee HS, Lee J. Applying artificial intelligence in physical education and future perspectives. Sustainability. 2021 Jan 2;13(1):351. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010351
[45] Järvelä S, Nguyen A, Hadwin A. Human and artificial intelligence collaboration for socially shared regulation in learning. British Journal of Educational Technology. 2023 Sep;54(5):1057-76. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13325
[46] Memarian B, Doleck T. Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (FATE) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and higher education: A systematic review. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence. 2023 Jan 1;5:100152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2023.100152
[47] Munir H, Vogel B, Jacobsson A. Artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches in digital education: A systematic revision. Information. 2022 Apr 17;13(4):203. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13040203
[48] Thorat V, Rao P, Joshi N, Talreja P, Shetty AR, RAO P. Role of artificial intelligence (AI) in patient education and communication in dentistry. Cureus. 2024 May 7;16(5). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.59799
[49] Nikolic S, Daniel S, Haque R, Belkina M, Hassan GM, Grundy S, Lyden S, Neal P, Sandison C. ChatGPT versus engineering education assessment: a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional benchmarking and analysis of this generative artificial intelligence tool to investigate assessment integrity. European Journal of Engineering Education. 2023 Jul 4;48(4):559-614. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2023.2213169
[50] Chounta IA, Bardone E, Raudsep A, Pedaste M. Exploring teachers' perceptions of artificial intelligence as a tool to support their practice in Estonian K-12 education. International journal of artificial intelligence in education. 2022 Sep;32(3):725-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-021-00243-5
[51] Vartiainen H, Tedre M. Using artificial intelligence in craft education: crafting with text-to-image generative models. Digital Creativity. 2023 Jan 2;34(1):1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2023.2174557
[52] Nedungadi P, Tang KY, Raman R. The transformative power of generative artificial intelligence for achieving the sustainable development goal of quality education. Sustainability. 2024 Nov 9;16(22):9779. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16229779
[53] González-Calatayud V, Prendes-Espinosa P, Roig-Vila R. Artificial intelligence for student assessment: A systematic review. Applied sciences. 2021 Jun 12;11(12):5467. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11125467
[54] Lee J, Wu AS, Li D, Kulasegaram KM. Artificial intelligence in undergraduate medical education: a scoping review. Academic Medicine. 2021 Nov 1;96(11S):S62-70. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000004291
[55] Grájeda A, Burgos J, Córdova P, Sanjinés A. Assessing student-perceived impact of using artificial intelligence tools: Construction of a synthetic index of application in higher education. Cogent Education. 2024 Dec 31;11(1):2287917. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2378271
Authors
Copyright (c) 2026 Kalawati, Sunil Kumar Sahu, N. Kumar Swamy (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 International Journal of Applied Resilience and Sustainability (IJARS) 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.