Using ChatGPT to Support Lesson Planning for the Historical Experiments of Thomson, Millikan, and Rutherford

Four General Chemistry instructors investigated the use of ChatGPT-4 to improve their lessons plans for the historical experiments of Thomson, Millikan, and Rutherford. The instructors varied in their prior knowledge for these experiments and their initial lessons addressed somewhat different learning objectives. This led to different conversations with the chatbot as the instructors used the resource in different ways and discussed topics they each found relevant. The output from ChatGPT-4 was robust and each instructor identified ways it could be used to improve their instruction. The chatbot was able to accomplish instructional tasks these instructors found useful, such as outlining a lesson plan, recommending resources, discussing instructional strategies, describing calculations, offering explanations for different levels of leaners, and generating assessments. A limitation was its ability create images or visual aids the instructors found useful. Overall, these instructors found the chatbot could support, but not replace, an instructor in a course like General Chemistry.