TITLE:
Bridging the Gap: The AI-TPACK Model for Teacher Professional Development in Early Childhood AI Literacy
AUTHORS:
Lingyi Meng, Mengda Yu, Lu Cheng, Yifan Feng, Qiwen Wang
KEYWORDS:
AI Literacy, Early Childhood Education, AI-TPACK Model, TPACK Framework, Pedagogical Integration
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Software Engineering and Applications,
Vol.18 No.12,
December
16,
2025
ABSTRACT: The pervasive integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the social and educational fabric of society has precipitated an urgent and non-negotiable need for AI literacy, a competency that must now be cultivated from the earliest years of schooling. While a burgeoning body of research has begun to demonstrate the feasibility, benefits, and methodologies for introducing AI concepts to young children, a profound and persistent barrier threatens to undermine this progress: a widespread lack of teacher readiness. This comprehensive conceptual paper addresses this critical impediment by proposing the AI-TPACK Model, a novel professional development framework that explicitly adapts and extends the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model for the specific context of early childhood AI literacy. The AI-TPACK Model is then introduced as a multi-stage framework comprising four synergistic modules: (1) Foundational AI Concepts, (2) ECE-Appropriate AI Tools, (3) AI-Specific Pedagogy, and (4) Ethical Integration. The paper contributes to the field by providing a structured pathway for transforming ECE educators from apprehensive observers to confident facilitators of AI literacy, thereby ensuring that the integration of AI in early learning environments is both pedagogically sound and ethically grounded. This framework serves as a critical foundation for future research, policy development, and institutional implementation, positioning effective teacher preparation as the crucial linchpin for the responsible and equitable future of AI in early learning environments.