Dyches, Nelson, and Van Dusen Receive Miller Faculty Fellowship to Explore AI in Teacher Preparation

Jeanne Dyches, associate professor in Iowa State’s School of Education, has received a Miller Faculty Fellowship in collaboration with Brandon Sams, associate professor in the Department of English; Sara Nelson, adjunct assistant professor in the School of Education and director of the NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium; and Ben Van Dusen, associate professor in the School of Education. 

The Miller Faculty Development Fund was established through a bequest from the late F. Wendell Miller, who left his estate jointly to Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. The fund supports faculty development proposals that advance Iowa State’s strategic plan. 

With funding from the fellowship, Dyches and her collaborators will work with pre-service teachers to understand, design, and teach using discipline-specific approaches to AI in secondary classrooms. 

“Every day, we’re gaining more insight into AI and its K-12 applications. But we aren’t looking at the discipline-specific ways in which secondary teachers might best utilize the technology, even though disciplinary literacy drives our national and Iowa Core State Standards,” Dyches said. “Research shows that the overwhelming majority of students are already using AI in some capacity. “We can’t serve future teachers, or their future students, without acknowledging and preparing for these new classroom realities.” 

Dyches said many teachers enter classrooms with little guidance on how, or whether, to use AI. Without shared expectations or training, what is unacceptable in one classroom may be encouraged in another, creating confusion for students. 

A former high school English teacher and literacy coach, Dyches researches aspects of disciplinary literacy, which are the unique ways students read, write, and think in a particular discipline. Much of her previous research has been in secondary classrooms, examining how curriculum decisions can empower both teachers and students. The Miller Faculty Fellowship gives Dyches the opportunity to extend that work into teacher education. 

“We want future teachers to develop a sense of agency to not only articulate a stance on AI in their classrooms, but also be able to justify those decisions based on research and best practices,” she said. 

To meet this goal, the project team will develop and implement a six-week, AI-focused module within an existing Iowa State teacher education course, Teaching Disciplinary Literacy, a junior- and senior-level class for future middle and high school teachers. The modules combine general instruction on AI with discipline-specific applications, giving students opportunities to explore how AI use might differ across subjects such as math, science, English, and social studies. 

“The way AI might support learning in a biology classroom is going to look very different from how it might function in a social studies or English classroom,” she said. “Our goal is to help future teachers see AI as a support or supplement, not as a substitute or adversary, and to explore how it can be used intentionally within their specific subject area.” 

In addition, guest speakers, including state AI policy experts and NASA-affiliated professionals, will work with students and give feedback on their lesson ideas. Students already develop and teach their own lessons as part of the course, and through this project, they will incorporate AI into their discipline-specific instruction. 

The project team will collect data from student lessons, classroom discussions, and focus groups to better understand how students’ perspectives around AI change over time. 

“The end goal of this project is findings that can inform and lead to tangible resources,” she said. “Students will teach these lessons, receive feedback, and ultimately help create an open educational resource that others can use.” 

The team plans to develop an open educational resource textbook based on the project and student lessons, making the materials free and accessible to educators beyond Iowa State while giving students the experience of seeing their work published. 

The project will roll out over the next year. Over the next several months, Dyches will focus on developing the curriculum and preparing to implement the project. The AI modules will be taught in spring 2027, followed by data analysis and broader sharing of the project’s findings. 

Dyches said the project reflects Iowa State’s land‑grant mission by emphasizing work that can extend beyond campus and benefit educators and Iowa students more broadly. 

“What excites me most is thinking about the students our students will eventually teach,” Dyches said. “If we can help ISU future teachers feel more confident, curious, and prepared, then the impact of this work will extend far beyond Iowa State.”