UIW Joins NSF-Funded Collaborative Research Project to Build AI Fluency in Middle Schools in Texas and New York

San Antonio, TX - The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is celebrating new National Science Foundation (NSF) support for a collaborative research project focused on one of today's most urgent educational needs: helping teachers and students develop meaningful, responsible fluency with artificial intelligence (AI). Lucretia M. Fraga, PhD, associate professor of Instructional Technology at UIW, received the NSF grant award in collaboration with the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and the University at Albany, SUNY and in partnership with Northside Independent School District (San Antonio, Texas) and Schenectady City Schools (New York).

Funded through NSF's Computer Science for All (CSforAll) program, the project "Collaborative Research: Building Capacity for Teacher and Student AI Fluency in Middle Schools in Texas and New York" is a two-year effort designed to help middle school educators integrate AI fluency into authentic learning experiences across core subjects. The award amount is $203,066 with the two-year project period running Fall 2025 through Fall 2027.

Building teacher capacity-so students can learn AI with purpose

Rather than treating AI as an add-on or limiting AI learning to electives, the project is intentionally designed to reach students where they already are in their required middle school classrooms. Each semester, teachers in both districts will participate in structured learning cycles in which they build their own understanding of AI, then design, implement, and assess a classroom activity where students use AI for authentic learning aligned to course goals.

Teachers will engage in real-time virtual meetings with dedicated time for lesson design, implementation and research activities. The professional learning model emphasizes practical classroom integration, peer feedback and real implementation-so teachers leave with usable resources and experience, not just information.