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A visiting scholar from Turkey will share insights into the study of science education and cross-cultural differences in educational research during a presentation May 15 at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

Demet Kirbulut, a doctoral student at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, was selected to take part in a special program aimed at training Turkey’s future academicians. She has been appointed a visiting research scholar with UW Oshkosh’s College of Education and Human Services as well as an honorary fellow at UW-Madison.

“The program is designed to broaden young academicians’ vision and give them a more contemporary view of global research in their fields of interest,” Kirbulut explained. “I had a chance to study with Dr. Michael Beeth in UW Oshkosh. He is very honorable and a well-known researcher in the science education area.”

Kirbulut also has presented her research in England and Korea.

In her role as a visiting scholar at UW Oshkosh, she will speak to UW Oshkosh education graduate students in a research foundations class about her studies of self-efficacy and change in students’ conceptions of chemistry.

In addition, Beeth said Kirbulut will discuss the similarities and differences in the approach to educational research in the U.S. and Turkey. For example, in Turkey, the Ministry of Education grants permission to study schoolchildren, unlike in the U.S., where parental permission is required and participants can withdraw at any point.

Beeth said language and data translation issues also can arise when conducting cross-cultural studies.

Besides her presentation at UW Oshkosh, Kirbulut will visit a local elementary school to discuss Turkish culture.