Dr. Burak Sahin

Bio

Dr. Burak Sahin is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science Education at The Citadel, holding a joint appointment in the Department of Computer Science and the Zucker Family School of Education. He earned his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in Science Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, along with a Professional Certificate in Cybersecurity. His work bridges computer science, cybersecurity, and teacher education, with a focus on preparing K–12 teachers and students for an increasingly computational world. He is also a cybersecurity professional and an AWS-trained AI educator and was selected through national competition to attend the US Cyber Challenge Cyber Camp in 2025.

Before joining The Citadel, Dr. Sahin spent more than a decade as an educator across countries. He taught science and STEM to K–12 students in Turkey, and the United States, and helped develop national digital learning platforms adopted by the Turkish Ministry of Education. At UNLV, he served as a research and teaching assistant on multiple NSF-funded projects spanning computer science education, science education, and STEM identity, and taught undergraduate and graduate science methods, and technology courses. His scholarship has been presented at leading national and international conferences, including AERA, NARST, and ESERA, and published in journals such as Technology, Knowledge and Learning.

Degrees

  • Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction, Science Education — University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
  • M.Ed. Curriculum and Instruction, Science Education — University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
  • Professional Certificate in Cybersecurity — University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
  • B.S. Elementary Science Education — Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

Research Interests

  • Cybersecurity Education for Teachers and Students
  • Computer Science Teacher Education
  • Teacher Identity in STEM Education
  • AI Education and Ethical Reasoning

Recent Publications

  • Sahin, B., & Wade-Jaimes, K. (2026). Improving science teaching: A comparative study of online and traditional science methods course modalities. (In press).
  • Sahin, B., Wade-Jaimes, K. & Washington, R. (2026). Becoming, Not Arriving: Science Identity Development and Negotiation of Black Students in an HBCU Context Through S-STEM Participation. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. (In progress)
  • Sahin, B., & Wade-Jaimes, K. (2025). Unpacking computer science teacher identity in K–12: The crucial role of elementary teachers and equity. Technology, Knowledge and Learning. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-025-09909-8
  • Yesilyurt, E., Turgut, R., Kaya, E., Sahin, B., Adibelli-Sahin, E., & Deniz, H. (2023). Multilingual elementary school students’ computer science and STEM learning through robotics. Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research, 2, 44–45. https://doi.org/10.1145/3568812.3603480
  • Yesilyurt, E., Kaya, E., Turgut, R., Adibelli-Sahin, E., Sahin, B., & Deniz, H. (2022). Teaching elementary computer science with physical computing for linguistically diverse classrooms, 2171–2176.
  • Dawson, T. W., Sahin, B., Hack, M., & Fasching-Varner, K. J. (2026). Investigating pre-service teachers’ perceived program support and its relationship to teaching self-efficacy across traditional and apprenticeship pathways. Action in Teacher Education. (In press).