CIGSA Officers for 2023-2024
Sezai Kocabas - President [email protected] Sezai is a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics education. His research primarily centers on young children's computational and mathematical thinking. Specifically, he investigated the impact of worked examples and the significance of analyzing these examples to understand programming concepts. Additionally, he explored young children's spatial and computational thinking processes during block composition and decomposition. He also investigated the discussion practices of Pre-Service Teachers within the Mursion mixed-reality simulation. Recently, he began exploring the interplay of language and storytelling in the shape composition processes of both emergent bilingual and monolingual students. Xuwei (Sara) Luo– Vice President [email protected] Xuwei (Sara) is a Ph.D. student at Purdue University's College of Education, with a focus on curriculum studies. Her academic pursuits revolve around teacher education, with a particular emphasis on pre-service teacher education, social justice, and culturally responsive teaching. In addition to her academic studies, Sara is actively involved in various projects. She currently serves as a teaching assistant and co-instructor at the College of Education. She was involved in the LLDC Project (Literacy and Language Development Clinic) and the Purdue Freedom School Project previously. Sara also assists as an editor's assistant for FOSR (First Opinion, Second Reaction). Vahap Demir - Treasurer [email protected] Vahap Demir is from Türkiye and he is a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at Purdue University with over 5 years of experience teaching and supervising student teachers at the college level. He specializes in social studies education, and his research focuses on teachers' perceptions and inclusion of global citizenship in their curriculum. Vahap has published peer-reviewed articles in the Journal of Social Studies Education Research and the Journal of International Social Studies. He has presented his research at conferences including the National Council for Social Studies. Vahap is committed to fostering an inclusive educational environment. He was the Secretary for the Global Language & Culture Partnership Program student organization at the University of Delaware. Vahap brings expertise in qualitative research methods, teaching, and curriculum development. Outside academics, he enjoys volunteering in his community. Vahap speaks Turkish, English, and Kurdish. Brantly E McCord - Event Coordinator [email protected] Brantly is a Ph.D. student studying video game development curriculum in higher education, crunch culture and work-life balance in the video game development industry, and critical studies of curriculum and pedagogy. Brantly enjoys making connections between students, staff, and faculty on campus toward improving working conditions, meaningful collaboration, and political consciousness in and out of classrooms. |