Research Study Repository
A comprehensive collection of academic research on generative AI in preK12 education organized into three categories:
- Descriptive - Research that describes how generative AI is being used in classrooms, schools, or districts or how products are designed and built.
- Impact (includes RCT + Quasi-Experimental) - Studies that test how well something works including but not limited to randomly dividing people into groups and comparing the results.
- Review - Studies that combine and summarize all the research on a specific genAI topic to find patterns and answers.
We aim to include all research in the above categories on generative AI in preK12 education in the US. As research diverges from genAI for preK12 in the US - such as machine learning, education systems beyond preK12, or studies conducted outside the US - inclusion in the repository is based on relevance to our target audiences:
- Superintendents, state, and federal K12 leaders
- Education support organizations (unions, parent groups, etc.)
- Leadership and product teams at technology companies
- Academic researchers
- Global education leaders
The Research Repository includes pre-published works but does not include journalism on AI for education.
Research synthesis is AI-generated, human reviewed. Updated 03/2025.
Showing 1 - 30 of 181 results
GenAI-101: What Undergraduate Students Need to Know and Actually Know About Generative AI
Sina Rismanchian, Eesha Tur Razia Babar, Shayan Doroudi. (01/2025). EdWorkingPapers.com.
What is the application? Communicating / Social Tools, Organizing, Analyzing
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Reimagined Schooling
Study design: Systematic ReviewEducation in the Era of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): Understanding the Potential Benefits of ChatGPT in Promoting Teaching and Learning
David Baidoo-Anu, Leticia Owusu Ansah. (01/2025). SSRN.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Teaching – Professional Learning, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Elementary (PK5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12), Post-Secondary, Adult
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation
Study design: Systematic ReviewDoes ChatGPT enhance student learning? A systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies
Ruiqi Deng, Maoli Jiang, Xinlu Yu, Yuyan Lu, Shasha Liu. (12/2024). ScienceDirect.
What is the application? Analyzing
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? High School (9-12)
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic
Study design: Systematic ReviewAnalyzing the Impact of AI Tools on Student Study Habits and Academic Performance
Ben Ward, Deepshikha Bhati, Fnu Neha, Angela Guercio. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support, Analyzing
Who is the user? Student
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalScaffold or Crutch? Examining College Students’ Use and Views of Generative AI Tools for STEM Education
Karen D. Wang, Zhangyang Wu, L'Nard Tufts II, Carl Wieman, Shima Salehi, Nick Haber. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Other Academic
Study design: Descriptive – Implementation and UseIs ChatGPT Massively Used by Students Nowadays? A Survey on the Use of Large Language Models such as ChatGPT in Educational Settings
Jérémie Sublime, Ilaria Renna. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student
Which age? Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12), Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Literacy, Outcomes – Other Academic
Study design: Descriptive – Implementation and UseGenerative AI as a lab partner: a case study
Sebastian Kilde-Westberg, Andreas Johansson, Jonas Enger. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Professional Learning, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? High School (9-12)
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalAIGCodeSet: A New Annotated Dataset for AI Generated Code Detection
Basak Demirok, Mucahid Kutlu. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? High School (9-12), Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Other Academic
Study design: Descriptive – Product DevelopmentThe Evolving Usage of GenAI by Computing Students
Irene Hou, Hannah Vy Nguyen, Owen Man, Stephen MacNeil. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Efficiency
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalTransformative Influence of LLM and AI Tools in Student Social Media Engagement: Analyzing Personalization, Communication Efficiency, and Collaborative Learning
Masoud Bashiri, Kamran Kowsari. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Learning – Student Support, Communicating / Social Tools, Analyzing
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Differentiation, Outcomes – Social Emotional, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Descriptive – Implementation and UseModifying AI, Enhancing Essays: How Active Engagement with Generative AI Boosts Writing Quality
Kaixun Yang, Mladen Raković, Zhiping Liang, Lixiang Yan, Zijie Zeng, Yizhou Fan, Dragan Gašević, Guanliang Chen. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Outcomes – Literacy
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalAI Across Borders: Exploring Perceptions and Interactions in Higher Education
Juliana Gerard, Sahajpreet Singh, Morgan Macleod, Michael McKay, Antoine Rivoire, Tanmoy Chakraborty, Muskaan Singh. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Analyzing
Who is the user? Student
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalArtificial Intelligence Policy Framework for Institutions
William Franz Lamberti. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Teaching – Professional Learning, Learning – Student Support, Communicating / Social Tools, Organizing, Analyzing
Who is the user? Educator, School Leader, Others
Which age? Elementary (PK5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12), Post-Secondary, Adult
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation, Outcomes – Social Emotional, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Descriptive – Implementation and UseFrom Unseen Needs to Classroom Solutions: Exploring AI Literacy Challenges & Opportunities with Project-Based Learning Toolkit in K-12 Education
Hanqi Li, Ruiwei Xiao, Hsuan Nieu, Ying-Jui Tseng, Guanze Liao. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Professional Learning
Who is the user? Educator
Which age? Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Descriptive – Implementation and Use, Descriptive – Product Development, Impact – Quasi–experimentalBuilding Bridges: AI Custom Chatbots as Mediators between Mathematics and Physics
Julia Lademann, Jannik Henze, Sebastian Becker-Genschow. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Middle School (6-8)
Why use AI? Outcomes – Numeracy, Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation
Study design: Impact – Randomized Controlled TrialCan OpenAI ol outperform humans in higher-order cognitive thinking?
Ehsan Latif, Yifan Zhou, Shuchen Guo, Yizhu Gao, Lehong Shi, Matthew Nyaaba, Arne Bewerdorff, Xiantong Yang, Xiaoming Zhai. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Analyzing
Who is the user? Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalMindScratch: A Visual Programming Support Tool for Classroom Learning Based on Multimodal Generative AI
Yunnong Chen, Shuhong Xiao, Yaxuan Song, Zejian Li, Lingyun Sun, Liuqing Chen. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Elementary (PK5)
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Impact – Randomized Controlled Trial, Impact – Quasi–experimentalLearnLM: Improving Gemini for Learning
LearnLM Team, Google. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student
Which age? Elementary (PK5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12), Post-Secondary, Adult
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation
Study design: Descriptive – Product Development, Impact – Quasi–experimentalRevolutionizing Undergraduate Learning: CourseGPT and Its Generative AI Advancements
Ahmad M. Nazar, Mohamed Y. Selim, Ashraf Gaffar, Shakil Ahmed. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Other Academic
Study design: Descriptive – Implementation and Use, Descriptive – Product Development, Impact – Quasi–experimentalBreaking the Programming Language Barrier: Multilingual Prompting to Empower Non-Native English Learners
James Prather, Brent N. Reeves, Paul Denny, Juho Leinonen, Stephen MacNeil, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, Jo√£o Orvalho, Amin Alipour, Ali Alfageeh, Thezyrie Amarouche, Bailey Kimmel, Jared Wright, Musa Blake, Gweneth Barbre. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalAugmenting Minds or Automating Skills? The Differential Role of Human Capital in Generative AI's Impact on Creative Tasks
Meiling Huang, Ming Jin, Ning Li. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Professional Learning, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Others
Which age? Adult
Why use AI? Outcomes – Differentiation, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Impact – Randomized Controlled TrialEquity in the Use of ChatGPT for the Classroom: A Comparison of the Accuracy and Precision of ChatGPT 3.5 vs. ChatGPT4 with Respect to Statistics and Data Science Exams
Monnie McGee, Bivin Sadler. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support, Analyzing
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Differentiation
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalActiveAl: Enabling K-12 AI Literacy Education & Analytics at Scale
Ruiwei Xiao, Ying-Jui Tseng, Hanqi Li, Hsuan Nieu, Guanze Liao, John Stamper, Kenneth R. Koedinger. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Analyzing
Who is the user? Others
Which age? High School (9-12)
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Reimagined Schooling
Study design: Descriptive – Implementation and Use, Descriptive – Product DevelopmentAI-Supported Data Analysis Boosts Student Motivation and Reduces Stress in Physics Education
Jannik Henze, André Bresges, Sebastian Becker-Genschow. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support, Analyzing
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalThe Impact of Large Language Models on Students: A Randomised Study of Socratic vs. Non-Socratic AI and the Role of Step-by-Step Reasoning
Andrea Blasco, Vicky Charisi. (12/2024). SSRN.
What is the application? Teaching – Instructional Materials, Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student
Which age? Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Impact – Randomized Controlled TrialWho is Helping Whom? Student Concerns about AI-Teacher Collaboration in Higher Education Classrooms
Bingyi Han, Simon Coghlan, George Buchanan, Dana McKay. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Analyzing
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Outcomes – Differentiation, Outcomes – Social Emotional, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalPromoting AI Literacy in Higher Education: Evaluating the IEC-V1 Chatbot for Personalized Learning and Educational Equity
Stefan Pietrusky. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Professional Learning, Learning – Student Support, Communicating / Social Tools
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Efficiency, Outcomes – Differentiation, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Descriptive – Product DevelopmentLLMs as Debate Partners: Utilizing Genetic Algorithms and Adversarial Search for Adaptive Arguments
Prakash Aryan. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Professional Learning, Learning – Student Support, Communicating / Social Tools
Who is the user? Student, Educator
Which age? High School (9-12), Post-Secondary, Adult
Why use AI? Outcomes – Durable Skills, Reimagined Schooling
Study design: Descriptive – Product Development, Impact – Quasi–experimentalA Self-Efficacy Theory-based Study on the Teachers' Readiness to Teach Artificial Intelligence in Public Schools in Sri Lanka
Chathura Rajapakse, Wathsala Ariyarathna, Shanmugalingam Selvakan. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Professional Learning
Who is the user? Educator
Which age? Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12)
Why use AI? Outcomes – Other Academic, Outcomes – Durable Skills
Study design: Impact – Quasi–experimentalBeware of Metacognitive Laziness: Effects of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Learning Motivation, Processes, and Performance
Yizhou Fan, Luzhen Tang, Huixiao Le, Kejie Shen, Shufang Tan, Yueying Zhao, Yuan Shen, Xinyu Li, Dragan Gasevic. (12/2024). arXiv.
What is the application? Teaching – Assessment and Feedback, Learning – Student Support
Who is the user? Student
Which age? Post-Secondary
Why use AI? Outcomes – Literacy, Outcomes – Other Academic
Study design: Impact – Randomized Controlled Trial
