Dr. Wang Receives Prestigious Spencer Foundation Vision Grant to Plan Transformative Research on Equitable AI Literacy for Young Children

Dr. X. Christine Wang, Professor of Learning Sciences and Early Childhood Education at the University at Buffalo, has been awarded a highly competitive Spencer Foundation Vision Grant for the project, “From Early Encounters to Equitable Futures: Grounding AI Literacy in Care and Local Systems Change.” Dr. Wang serves as Principal Investigator, alongside Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Chris Proctor (University at Buffalo) and Dr. Deborah Silvis (SUNY Cortland). The Western New York Education Equity Task Force (WNYEETF) will serve as the project’s anchor community partner.

Unlike traditional research grants, the Spencer Vision Grant supports interdisciplinary teams in developing bold ideas and building the partnerships necessary to pursue future transformative research projects capable of reshaping educational systems. Over the next year, the team will work with educators, families, community organizations, policymakers, and media and technology partners across Western New York to co-develop a shared vision and research agenda for equitable AI literacy in early childhood. This planning effort will culminate in a proposal for a large-scale, multi-year transformative research initiative.

The project addresses a pressing challenge facing education today. Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of young children’s everyday lives through smart toys, voice assistants, adaptive learning platforms, and AI-curated media. Yet nearly all AI literacy initiatives have focused on older students, leaving the early years—when children develop foundational understandings of relationships, fairness, and agency—largely overlooked. Building upon the team’s NSF-funded research on AI literacies for young children, the Spencer Vision Grant seeks to develop a care-thinking infused, community-grounded approach to understanding children’s AI experiences and creating more equitable pathways for AI literacy.

During the Vision Grant year, the research team will work closely with WNYEETF, schools, families, libraries, community organizations, and media and technology partners to better understand how young children encounter AI across home, school, and community settings. Together, these partners will help identify community strengths, map children’s AI learning ecosystems, and co-design a research agenda that places equity, relationships, and children’s holistic development at its center.

As part of the award, Dr. Wang, Dr. Proctor, and Ellen Grant, former Deputy Mayor of Buffalo representing WNYEETF, recently joined fellow Spencer Vision Grant recipients around the world at the 2026 Spencer Vision Grant Awardees Workshop in Chicago. The multi-day convening brought together interdisciplinary research teams to refine ambitious ideas, receive feedback from Spencer Foundation staff and invited scholars, and learn from one another as they envisioned research capable of transforming educational systems.

Throughout the workshop, the PlayfulAI team engaged in collaborative activities focused on systems thinking, power mapping, and partnership development. These conversations helped further refine the project’s vision of moving from children’s everyday AI encounters toward systems-level change. The team also strengthened plans for collaborating with the WNYEETF and other regional partners to co-design research tools, identify community assets, and develop a locally grounded model that can ultimately inform AI literacy policy and practice nationwide.