What happened
Google's LearnLM team and Fab AI ran a preregistered randomized trial in 12 government-supported junior secondary schools in Port Loko District, Sierra Leone. Within each school and grade, half of 48 math classrooms were assigned to the Guided Learning feature in the Gemini app. From 6 October to 5 December 2025, teachers were asked to lead two of four weekly math periods with it. Students worked in pairs on shared tablets or computers. The other classrooms continued standard instruction. Oxford MeasurEd developed the tests and scored them without knowing students' assignment. In a report of 15 May 2026, the authors state that Guided Learning raised math scores by +0.258 standard deviations after adjustment for baseline scores. Without that adjustment, the estimate was 0.216 standard deviations and not statistically significant. Students with stronger baseline skills gained more. Google staff wrote the report with Fab AI, and Google.org and the Gates Foundation supported the work. The report has not been peer reviewed.
Sources
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Report, by the makers.
LearnLM Team, Google & Fab AI. Teaching with Gemini: Measuring the impact of Guided Learning on student mathematics progress in Sierra Leone. Technical report, 15 May 2026 (goo.gle/LearnLM-SierraLeone-May26). Supported by Google.org and the Gates Foundation (INV-078363). Not peer reviewed.
Use of the Guided Learning feature in Gemini significantly improved students' learning outcomes, yielding a gain of +0.258 standard deviations across the Guided Learning classrooms (intent to treat; 95% confidence interval [0.027, 0.488],
Details
AI system
- Reported configuration
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Gemini 2.5 Pro for the first six weeks and Gemini 3.0 Pro for the final three weeks
- Workflow
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Teachers were asked to use Guided Learning in two of their four weekly math periods for eight weeks, 12 hours in total. Students worked in pairs and shared tablets or desktop computers at two students per device. All teachers received five to six hours of training, and teachers in Guided Learning classrooms prepared learning objectives and starter prompts for each lesson.
Follow-up
- Conditions for replication
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Teachers design and lead the lessons, which the authors call as essential as Gemini. Students need enough reading and digital literacy to work with the app. Schools need devices for students to share during lessons.
Entry details
- Sector
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Education.
- Purpose
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Google built the Guided Learning feature in the Gemini app to tutor students with scaffolding questions and step-by-step guidance.
References
- Other identifiers
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Aea_rct: AEARCTR-0016651.
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Cite this record
Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). Gemini Guided Learning lessons lift math scores in Sierra Leone (AIBD-1132). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 1 November 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-1132.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 7.0)