A Comparative Systematic Literature Review of Bangladesh and the USA: AI Tools for Skill Development in PK–5 Learners

Abstract

This review synthesizes peer-reviewed and organizational literature on artificial intelligence (AI) tools used with pre-kindergarten through grade 5 (PK–5) learnersin Bangladesh and the United States, with attention to cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-emotional development. Studies of intelligent tutoring systems, AI-supported literacy and numeracy tools, conversational agents, and social robots show that U.S.-based research reports emerging benefits for young children’s achievement, inquiry, collaboration, and early AI literacy, although PK–5 learners are rarely examined separately within broader K–12 samples. Research focused on Bangladesh emphasizes teacher readiness, infrastructure, and policy, offering conceptual support for AI-enabled personalization and equity but
providing few classroom-based intervention studies that directly measure PK–5 learning outcomes. Across both contexts, there is a lack of cross-national, PK–5-specific research using shared outcome measures to examine how contextual factors influence AI effectiveness. The review identifies three key gaps limited empirical PK–5 studies in Bangladesh,insufficient PK–5-specific analysis globally, and a lack of comparative designs and calls for mixedmethods, parallel-intervention research to guide developmentally appropriate and ethical AI integration in early education.