Anna Sierpinska (1947-2023) - Outstanding Researcher in Mathematics Education

Abstract

On 19 October 2023, Anna Sierpinska, Professor Emerita at Concordia University in Montreal, known internationally as a Polish-Canadian scholar in the field of mathematics education passed away. Anna Sierpinska received her mathematical education in Poland - at the University of Warsaw. She obtained a PhD in mathematics in their didactics at the Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczna (WSP) in Krakow (current name: University of the National Education Commission). She was an academic teacher in Poland and then - since 1990 - in Canada. She conducted intensive didactical research relating to various aspects of the learning process in mathematics, and was particularly appreciated for her contributions to research on epistemology and understanding in mathematics. She was an extremely active participant in international efforts to improve mathematics teaching. While already working in Canada, she continued to take a keen interest in the issues of the didactics of mathematics in Poland. She participated in didactic conferences organised in Poland and invited Polish educators to Montreal to hold classes at Concordia University. She promoted Polish research in the field of didactics of mathematics internationally, promoted the journal Dydaktyka Matematyki in foreign environments and provided substantive and linguistic support to less and more experienced Polish doing research in the didactics of mathematics.