Yasemin Sipahi (Ph.D. ’28), a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Psychology, recently received a Dissertation Mini-Grant from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation to advance her research on intelligence and gifted education.
“Receiving the Dissertation Mini-Grant is very meaningful to me, both personally and academically,” said Sipahi. “What makes this award important to me is that it recognizes the value of looking more closely at teachers. Teachers play a major role in whether students’ creative mathematical ideas are noticed, taken seriously, and supported in the classroom.”
Specifically, Sipahi’s dissertation focuses on mathematical creativity and teachers’ perceptions of teaching for creativity in mathematics.
She is examining these ideas from both quantitative and qualitative angles, with the goal of better understanding how teachers think about creativity and how their own mathematical creativity may relate to their teaching for creativity perceptions.
“This award feels especially encouraging because creativity in mathematics is still sometimes misunderstood as simply coming up with unusual answers,” she said. “I hope the study can add to conversations about how we prepare and support teachers to create classroom environments where students can explore mathematical ideas in more flexible, original, and meaningful ways.”
This award will support the final stages of Sipahi’s research at UGA, as she continues analyzing data and preparing findings for her dissertation. Broadly, the grant will help her contribute to educational psychology by connecting research on creativity, teacher beliefs, and mathematics education.
In addition to recognizing Sipahi’s contributions to the field, the grant also provides networking opportunities and the potential to present her findings at a Mensa Foundation event while engaging with thought leaders in intelligence research.
Before beginning her doctoral work, Sipahi worked as a mathematics teacher. Her experience in the classroom continues to shape the questions she asks as a researcher.
Sipahi is especially interested in the space between what teachers believe about creativity and what becomes possible for students in actual mathematics classrooms.