Practical Challenges and Optimization Strategies for the Application of Artificial Intelligence in Senior High School Physics Teaching

Zhou Chun^*, Mao Shujing, Liu Xixi

Sichuan Preschool Educators College

Abstract：

The deep integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and subject teaching has become a major direction of educational digital transformation and an important pathway for advancing core competencies in senior high school physics. Focusing on the barriers that currently constrain AI-supported physics teaching, this study examines four interrelated categories of challenges: application-level limitations, subject-level competence gaps, resource constraints, and weaknesses in institutional support. The analysis draws on questionnaire data and semi-structured interviews with 186 physics teachers and 527 students in Grades 10–12 from senior high schools of different levels in southwest China. The findings indicate that AI use in physics classrooms remains concentrated in relatively superficial auxiliary tasks and has not yet been deeply embedded in concept learning, inquiry-based experimentation, or the cultivation of scientific thinking. Generic AI tools also lack sufficient disciplinary adaptation and reliable scientific review mechanisms for physics content. Teachers and students show uneven AI literacy and uncertain boundaries of appropriate use, while high-quality subject-specific resources remain scarce and poorly shared. Institutional, ethical, and hardware support systems are likewise underdeveloped. In response, this study proposes four optimization strategies: deepening pedagogical integration through a physics-specific application paradigm, strengthening the differentiated development of teachers’ and students’ AI competence, building a co-constructed and shared resource system, and improving multi-dimensional support and governance mechanisms. The study offers an empirically grounded account of the real conditions of AI use in senior high school physics and practical guidance for moving from tool-level adoption toward more meaningful and sustainable integration.

Key Words：

Artificial Intelligence; senior high school physics; instructional integration; practical challenges; optimization strategies