Sinem Siyahhan

Dr. Sinem Siyahhan is a Professor of Educational Technology and Learning Sciences in the School of Education, and the Associate Director of the Center for Research and Engagement in STEM Education (CRESE), and the Faculty Director of Service Learning at California State University San Marcos.

Before joining CSUSM in 2014, Siyahhan was an Assistant Research Professor at Arizona State University and worked at the Center for Games and Impact for three years. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Learning Sciences with a minor in Inquiry Methodology from Indiana University in 2011.

She is a community-engaged scholar with expertise in informal STEM teaching and learning, focusing on technology, engineering, and design thinking.

Project Highlights

Read Sinem Siyahhan's Book:

Families at Play: Connecting and Learning through Video Games

Video games have a bad reputation in the mainstream media. They are blamed for encouraging social isolation, promoting violence, and creating tensions between parents and children. In this book, Sinem Siyahhan and Elisabeth Gee offer another view. They show that video games can be a tool for connection, not isolation, creating opportunities for families to communicate and learn together.

Siyahhan and Gee draw on a decade of research to look at how learning and teaching take place when families play video games together. With video games, they argue, the parents are not necessarily the teachers and experts; all family members can be both teachers and learners. They suggest video games can help families form, develop, and sustain their learning culture as well as develop skills that are valued in the 21st century workplace. Educators and game designers should take note.

Sinem Siyahhan's Projects Supported by Funds from: