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Dr. Ali Sabri Ipek has been named a postdoctoral research scholar in residence at С����Ƶ’s College of Education and Human Services, where he will collaborate on several research projects related to mathematics education under the guidance of Dr. Bhesh Mainali, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education. 

Ipek is a professor at Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University in his hometown of Rize, Turkey. His primary fields of study involve conceptual learning in mathematics, teacher education and a concept in mathematics education called multiple representations, which describes how a single mathematical idea can be symbolized or indicated in more than one way.

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The collaboration with Rider came after Ipek was awarded a postdoctoral research fellowship by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. 

Ipek and Mainali have been working on three different projects: the role of representation in school mathematics textbooks between Turkey and the USA, investigating the role of representations in teaching and learning mathematics, and conducting a comparative analysis of the mathematics education system in the USA and Turkey in conjunction with the role of representation in high school mathematics. 

“I am very excited about this new and important experience in my academic life,” says Ipek, who serves in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University’s Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Department of Primary Mathematics Teaching. “I am grateful to С����Ƶ officials, especially Dr. Bhesh Mainali for providing me with the opportunity."

Ipek graduated in 1992 as the top student of Atatürk University Kazım Karabekir’s Department of Mathematics, where he earned a bachelor’s degree. After working as a teacher and research assistant, he returned to Atatürk to earn a master’s degree and a doctorate in mathematics education.

Ipek has been a member of Erdoğan University’s faculty since 2008, and he was a professor and department chair of mathematics and science education before coming to С����Ƶ. He has also worked as a writer and editor of mathematics textbooks approved by Turkey’s Ministry of National Education and served on the preparation commission for mathematics curriculum used in the country’s primary and secondary school levels.

“We are hoping to explore some important aspects of multiple representations in teaching and learning mathematics, particularly with the context of Turkey and the USA mathematics education system,” says Mainali.