Development of Artificial Intelligence Based Personalized Learning Materials for the Topic of Heat Among Form Four Students: A Needs Analysis Based on Teachers' Perception

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced rapidly and offers a variety of innovative applications across different fields, including education. However, in Malaysia, the implementation of AI technology in Teaching and Learning (PdP) is still limited, particularly in the subject of Physics. Students often face significant challenges in learning the topic of heat due to the complex and abstract concepts that hinder their mastery of the subject during the PdP process. This study aims to analyze the need for self-learning materials among Form Four students for the Physics subject. A quantitative survey design was used, employing questionnaires as the research instrument. These questionnaires were distributed to 30 secondary school Physics teachers in the Kota Setar district, selected through a simple random sampling technique. The results of the study show that the majority of teachers (73.3%) consider the topic of heat to be challenging for students. Additionally, all teachers (100%) agreed on the need to develop AI-based self-learning materials focused on the topic of heat (73.3%) supporting this initiative. Most teachers (90.9%) chose the subtopic of specific latent heat as the content for development. A large portion of teachers (83.3%) selected interactive modules as the appropriate type of AI-based self-learning materials. The most suitable learning technique was identified as mastery learning (86.7%). In terms of activity implementation, most teachers chose experiments (96.7%), while for assessment, the majority of teachers preferred interactive exercises (83.3%). In conclusion, there is a clear need to develop AI-based self-learning materials for the topic of heat among Form Four students, based on teachers' perceptions. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended to develop an AI-integrated comic-based e-module that can meet students' learning needs and present the topic of heat in a more comprehensible manner. This personalized learning material is expected to improve conceptual understanding among students.