Generation AI: How digital tools and AI shape student learning, well-being and equity in European classrooms

GenAI is a project funded under Horizon (HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-TRANSFO-07) with 3.4 million euros and addresses a growing tension in education: As generative AI and other digital tools increasingly shape students’ learning and lives, schools struggle to keep pace, risking exclusion, unequal access to digital opportunities, and added strain on educators and institutions.
GenAI analyses how these tools affect students’ learning and digital well-being, and under what conditions they enhance or hinder inclusive STEM education across Europe. The project follows 3 core objectives:
•To examine how digital tools impact students’ well-being and learning outcomes over time;
•To generate robust evidence for an inclusive, AI-informed model of high-quality STEM education;
•To translate research into usable tools and strategies through engagement with educators and decision-makers.
GenAI applies a longitudinal, mixed-method design across 8 countries and 2 age groups (12-13, 16-17). Quantitative and qualitative data - including tests, AI literacy diagnostics, interaction logs, and interviews - are linked to usage, learner profiles and school context. A novel benchmark of AI systems in STEM education links instructional quality and subject accuracy to student outcomes, supporting responsible, future-oriented AI use. GenAI evaluates AI-based interventions using a three-arm cluster-randomised design contrasting supported AI use, unsupported AI use, and a control group. This reveals conditions for effective, ethical integration in real classrooms.

Educators and policymakers are engaged through co-creation processes - including validation workshops, stakeholder meetings and targeted outputs such as teaching guidelines and policy recommendations - to ensure usability and uptake.