Social Representations of Artificial Intelligence Among Brazilian Educators: Evocations, Justifications, and Professional Profile

This dataset comprises information gathered using the Free Word Association Technique (FWAT) from 191 Brazilian educators from multiple educational levels (Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, Higher Education, and education managers). The data were collected during continuing education sessions in academic Master's and Doctoral programs at a private higher education institution.

Participants were prompted with the stimulus “What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) for you?” and asked to provide up to five associated words, ordered by importance, along with written justifications for their choices. The dataset includes: (1) evoked words, (2) the order of importance assigned, (3) participants’ textual justifications, and (4) sociodemographic variables (age, years of teaching experience, gender, and educational level).

The data were analyzed using the Central Core Theory (CCT), supported by the IRaMuTeQ software, enabling the identification of central core elements, peripheral elements, and contrast zones. The corpus is also structured for prototypical and similitude analyses. This dataset is valuable for researchers working on Social Representations Theory, teacher training, educational technologies, and the role of artificial intelligence in education.