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A new study from the University of Würzburg's Chair of Mathematics Education shows that AI research for STEM education focuses too much on technology and neglects the holistic development of students.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT has arrived in classrooms and sparked an intense debate about its role in education. These technologies raise the fundamental question of which human skills will still matter in the future. A new, comprehensive literature study has now systematically analyzed the current state of research. The aim was to evaluate how AI can advance education in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
Professor Hans-Stefan Siller, Chair of Mathematics V (Didactics of Mathematics) at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), and his research assistant Alissa Fock were responsible for the study. The two published the results of their research in the International Journal of STEM Education.
The concept of “human flourishing” served as the central benchmark for the ideal of “good education.” This describes the goal of enabling young people to develop their full potential, lead self-determined, meaningful lives, and make a positive contribution to society. “So it's about much more than just increasing cognitive performance,” explains Hans-Stefan Siller. However, analysis of the current research landscape reveals significant gaps in this area.
Studies analyze AI, not people
The evaluation of 183 scientific publications makes it clear that research has so far been primarily technology-centered. “Instead of examining the impact of AI on learners and teachers, most studies focus on the systems themselves,” says Alissa Fock. Accordingly, the research focuses primarily on the performance of AI (35 percent) and the development of new AI tools (22 percent).
What is particularly revealing here is that “of the 139 empirical studies in the analysis, in around half of the cases the researchers examined only AI-generated content instead of observing its application and impact on students or teachers,” criticizes Siller. In his view, this technocentric approach carries the risk of pushing the actual educational needs into the background and losing sight of the overarching goal – the development of young people's entire personalities. “This tunnel vision on technology leads to other central aspects of human development being neglected,” says Siller.
Ethics, motivation, and diversity fall by the wayside
The analysis reveals further critical gaps in previous research that are crucial for holistic education:
• Holistic skills: Research focuses heavily on cognitive aspects. However, the promotion of non-cognitive skills such as motivation, self-confidence, critical thinking, and ethical judgment is hardly investigated.
• Ethical issues: Although topics such as bias in AI systems or data security are central to everyday school life, they play hardly any role in current research literature.
• Geographical imbalance: Research is heavily concentrated in the Global North (73 percent of studies, 30 percent of which are from the US alone). This carries the risk that solutions will be developed that ignore cultural diversity and different educational contexts around the world.
The study's conclusion is clear: “Research on AI in education must once again focus more on people,” the authors demand. Instead of simply asking what is technologically possible, the central question must be what young people need in order to find meaning and the ability to act in a world shaped by AI.
Teachers and AI must work together
As a constructive solution, Siller and Fock propose a model for collaboration between teachers and AI. In this model, teachers use AI as a tool to delegate time-consuming routine tasks, such as creating exercises or initial drafts for lesson plans. However, the decisive role remains with humans: teachers must critically review the content created by AI for errors, bias, and pedagogical suitability, and enrich it with their expertise and practical experience.
This approach reduces teachers' workload while preserving their autonomy and the meaningfulness of their work, as pedagogical responsibility and final decision-making authority remain with humans. To ensure that AI has the potential to improve education in the long term, Siller and Fock believe that further research is needed that consistently focuses on humans and their holistic development.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Stefan Siller, Chair of Mathematics V (Didactics of Mathematics),
Phone: +49 931 31-89867, hans-stefan.siller@uni-wuerzburg.de
Generative artificial intelligence in secondary STEM education in the light of Human Flourishing: a scoping literature review. Alissa Fock & Hans-Stefan Siller. International Journal of STEM Education, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-025-00589-5
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