X. Christine Wang
Director, Fisher-Price Endowed Early Childhood Research Center
Professor
LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION
Specialty/Research Focus
Curriculum and Instruction; Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education; Child and Adolescent Development; Cognition; Digital Innovations; Digital Media and Learning; Diversity; Curriculum and Instruction; Design Experiments; International Education; Literacy; Gender, Culture, and Equity; Global Issues; Immigrant Issues; Ethnography; Science Education; Learning Communities; Multimodality, Embodiment, and Digital Literacy; Qualitative Research Methods
Education and Training:
- PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- MEd, Beijing Normal University, China
- BA, Beijing Normal University, China
Awards and Honors:
- Nominated for the Best Paper Award,; International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) annual conference (https://2021.isls.org/awards/); 2021-06-11;
- Faculty in Residence Fellow; UB GSE Faculty in Residence Fellowship; 2019-12-01;
- Nominated for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award, UB, 2018-2019; Graduate School, UB; 2018-10-22;
- Faculty STAR (Service, Teaching, Advisement & Research)- Service Award; GSE, UB; 2017-05-17;
- Young Scholar Paper Award, “An Ethnographic Case Study of a Bilingual Child’s Ethnic Identity Construction.” (Co-authored with Hyonsuk Cho (my former doctoral student and GA).; Korean-American Educational Researcher Association (KAERA); 2017-04-27;
Recent Publications:
Edited Book:
- Wang, X. C., Flood, V. J., & *Cady, A. (2021). Computational thinking through body and ego syntonicity: Young children’s embodied sense-making using a programming toy. In E. de Vries, J. Ahn, & Y. Hod (Eds.). Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2021 (pp. 394-401). Bochum, Germany: International Society of the Learning Sciences. [Nominated for Best Paper Award at ISLS 2021]
Journal Article:
- Wang, X. C., *Choi, Y., Benson, K., Eggleston, C., & Weber, D. (2021). Teachers’ role in fostering preschoolers’ computational thinking: An exploratory case study. Early Education and Development, 32(1), 26-48. DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2020.1759012
- Wang, X. C., *Dai, W., Hu, B., & Song, Z. (2021). “Good job!”: Unpacking praise practices of Chinese early childhood teachers. Early Child Development and Care, 191(2), 266-280. DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2019.1614571
- Cho, H. & Wang, X. C. (2020). Fluid identity play: A case study of a bilingual child’s ethnic identity construction across multiple contexts. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 18(2), 200-213. DOI: 10.1177/1476718X19898746
- Christ, T., Wang, X. C., Chiu, M. M. & Cho, H. (2019). Kindergartener’s meaning-making with multimodal app books: The relations amongst reader characteristics, app book characteristics, and comprehension outcomes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 47 (2), 357-372. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.01.003
Recent Presentations:
Invited Lectures:
- Wang, X. C., Eggleston, C., & Benson, K. (2020, October). Home/virtual schooling of young children: Discussion with the ECRC experts. Invited parent workshop via Zoom for UB Wellness and Worklife Balance, Buffalo, NY.;
- Wang, X. C., Flood, V. J., & *Cady, A. (2021, May). Computational thinking through body and ego syntonicity: Young children’s embodied sense-making using a programming toy. Paper presented at Research Talk Friday, LAI Graduate Student Association, Buffalo, NY.;
Conferences:
- Wang, X. C. & Choi, Y. (2021, April). Fostering children’s computational thinking in early childhood: A systematic review. Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Educational Research Association, Tamper, FL. (Virtual Conference);
- Wang, X. C. (2020, June). “Sometimes the Internet doesn’t know everything”: Exploring young children’s epistemic reasoning in their inquiry practice. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Nashville, TN. (Virtual);
- Wang, X. C., *Cobanoglu, A., Schindel, A., & Christ, T. (2021, April). “Because they are scientists, they do experiments”: Exploring emerging science identities of underserved African-American Kindergartners. Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Educational Research Association, Tamper, FL. (Virtual Conference);
Recent Grants:
Grant:
- MuMoExplore: Exploring Critical Pedagogy of Place and Multimodal Digital Technology to Engage Young Children’s Science and Literacy Learning; Local; GSE MEGAS Grant; Awarded; (01/01/2019-12/31/2019)
- Fostering Intellectual Virtue through the Guided Exploration of Contested Areas of Learning in the Classroom; Foundation and Research Organization; UB Humanities Institute Seed Grant; Awarded; (08/28/2018-05/15/2019)
- Dual Language Learners’ Social-Emotional Language Socialization; Local; University of North Dakota, New Faculty Scholar Award; Awarded; (05/01/2017-04/30/2018)
- MuMoREADY: Supporting MultiModal Text READing with Adaptive Diagnosis and Scaffolding for Young Children; Local; SUNY-Buffalo Civic Engagement Fellowship for Grant Development; Awarded; (08/01/2015-07/31/2016)
- MuMoREADY: Supporting MultiModal Text READing with Adaptive Diagnosis and Scaffolding for Young Children; Local; GSE MEGAS Seed Grant, UB; Awarded; (08/01/2015-07/31/2016)
Recent Activities:
Editorial and Review:
- Proposal Review Panel, Spencer Foundation, 2021
01/01/2021-12/31/2021 - (1)Editor in Chief: Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 2017-Present (2)Associate Editor: Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2016-Present (3)Associate Editor: Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 2014-2016 (4)Editorial Review Board: Early Childhood Research and Practice, 2004-Present (5)Editorial Review Board: Childhood Education, 2004-Present
06/01/2016-05/31/2017
Professional Service:
- Executive Board, AERA-Early Education/Child Development SIG, Fall 2010-Present
06/01/2018-08/31/2022 - (1)Executive Board, AERA-Early Education/Child Development SIG, Fall 2010-Present (2)Advisory Board, Technology and Young Children Interest Forum, NAEYC, 2001-Present (3)AERA EE/CD SIG Conference Program Co-Chair: 2016, 2017
06/01/2016-05/31/2017 - Advisory Board, Technology and Young Children Interest Forum, NAEYC, 2001-Present
09/01/2015-09/01/2015
Recent Editorships:
Editorship:
- Guest Editor; Special Issue “Computational Thinking in Early Childhood Education” for Early Childhood Research Quarterly (Expected Publication: December 2022)
05/01/2021-12/31/2022 - Editor; Journal of Research in Childhood Education
01/01/2017-12/31/2019 - Associate Editor; Early Childhood Research Quarterly
08/01/2016-07/31/2025