Imagine, Design, Code Flying Vehicles

In Ankara, Turkey, an announcement was made for the “Imagine, Design and Code Flying Vehicles” competition for students at Doku Schools. In this competition, it was aimed that students do interdisciplinary studies with flying vehicles, gain awareness and experience a more effective learning process with STEM applications. The theme of the competition was for students to design flying vehicles with recycled materials, to learn the working principle of the aircraft by researching, and to design games with coding related to it. The competition started on March 30 and continued until April 27. Students who made their preparations during this process sent their projects to their e-mail account and participated in the competition. 58 female and 46 male students participated. The age of the participants in this competition was between 9 and 14 years old.

Imagine, design and code flying vehicles consisted of three stages. The first step was to research the Aircraft and come up with a creative name for the flying vehicle that she/he would build herself. The second stage was to design his dream flying vehicle using recycled materials. The third was to develop a game using coding tools. We have prepared a competition where students can both enjoy and learn while having fun. We announced our competition on various platforms such as social media and posters. At the end of the activity, students’ opinions were taken and they stated that they could learn more easily with STEM applications.

metin, iç mekan içeren bir resim

Açıklama otomatik olarak oluşturuldu

While researching the plane they were preparing in the first phase, they found interesting information. They discovered that the principle of flight of airplanes is thanks to their wings. Lightning strikes airplanes. Thanks to the materials in the aircraft, lightning is not felt. They learned that the tires of the planes are very strong and can carry about 38 tons. Students said that they encountered interesting information and enjoyed researching it. The names they gave to their flying vehicles in this process were also very interesting.

tablo, iç mekan, döşeli, birkaç içeren bir resim

Açıklama otomatik olarak oluşturuldu

They design a flying vehicle that goes through the second stage transformation process. They designed different flying vehicles such as airplanes and drones from toilet paper rolls, pens, materials such as ping pong balls, plastic covers, and CDs. They stated that they enjoyed the process of creating prototypes.

metin içeren bir resim

Açıklama otomatik olarak oluşturuldu

The third stage was the coding stage. They designed creative games using block-based coding tools such as Scratch, Arcade, and Kodugame. They stated that they had some difficulty at this stage.

In the April 29 elections, the finalists of the competition have been announced.

In our project, we aimed to enable the child in our school to encounter STEM. He observed that learning is easier and permanent with STEM teaching. Participating belong to different age groups. They were many for what could be designed for students, for what could be designed for students. It benefits from being brought together and used from the competition. Every student involved and their project were so happy and so happy, they approve of its dissemination.

UNIMPEDED STEM

STEM and BBC micro:bit coding training was given to the teachers and students of the Gelişim Special Education and Rehabilitation Center in Ankara, Turkey on 17 March – 25 April 2021. It was aimed for teachers to gain knowledge and awareness about STEM and to enable students to experience a more effective learning process with STEM applications. 6 different workshops of 45 minutes each were held. Students with the diagnosis of Specific Learning Disability, Mental Retardation, Hearing Impairment constituted the target group of the study. Female students’ participation was prioritized over male students’ participation. At the end of the event, 25 female students, 15 male students, a total of 40 students and 9 teachers were reached. If they wished to, students and teachers filled in the participation forms before attending the workshops. 6-week workshops were held with children between the ages of 6-14 and their teachers.

We had two goals in UNIMPEDED STEM. First one; It was about giving STEM and Coding training to Special Education and Rehabilitation Center Teachers, and making them aware of them and applying them in their lessons. Our second goal was to create equality of opportunity in education and provide education to disabled individuals with STEM and Coding. We designed an environment where students and teachers can learn while they enjoy themselves and have fun. Days ago, we announced our event on various platforms such as social media and posters. With our activity, children got acquainted with different peer groups. At the end of the activity, the students’ views were received and they stated that they could learn more easily with STEM applications.

Teacher workshops were held with teachers who wanted to participate. Groups were created regardless of age and pre-learning conditions. In this way, it was ensured that the teachers socialized and communicated with their colleagues. Every teacher who participated was asked to do STEM applications in their lessons and they did.

For example, a teacher who was teaching the Letter E, together with the student, first tried to print the letter E with play dough. They made an object that starts with the letter E using Play Dough and made an application that shows the letter E with the BBC micro: bit.

Student workshops, on the other hand, were organized individually or in groups, taking into account their special circumstances. Workshops were planned according to the learning level of each student.

A Coding class was created in the school and computers and micro:bits were placed in this class. It was aimed for each student to learn by doing. BBC micro: bit microcomputer was introduced in the workshops. With the BBC micro: bit, the students’ awareness was raised using applications ranging from fundamental to difficult. LEDs on the BBC micro: bit microcomputer were introduced and exercises such as name printing, letter printing, symbol creation, number recognition, number printing and coding were carried out with LEDs. Exercises that print names, create symbols, and add and subtract when the button is pressed with the buttons were completed. The sensors on the card were shown, accelerometer sensor was introduced and explained along with the exercises that can be applied. The concepts of north, south, east and west were shown with the compass sensor. These practices were adapted to their lessons according to their individual development.

For a student who has difficulty learning the number 2, the number 2 was written on the LEDs with BBC micro: bit, as well as the practice of counting objects and writing the number.

Arrows were drawn using Cartons for students who had difficulty in directions, directions were introduced, and concepts of North, South, East, West were demonstrated with micro: bit.

In our project, we aimed for every child to be able to encounter STEM regardless of their disability. We have observed that with the STEM teaching approach, their learning is easier and permanent. Our students who participated were from different age groups and with different disabilities. Students were very eager to learn, as they could apply the topics they learned in different settings and see the result. At the end of the workshop, the opinions of the students and parents who participated were received. Each participating student and their parents were very happy and stated that they wanted such activities to be carried out continuously and to be widespread.

All the photos belong to the Author – Attribution CC-BY

STEM WEEKEND

Author: Merve Ozer

On February 15th, 2020, the programming with BBC micro:bit workshop was held in Taurus Mall which is in Ankara, Turkey. The workshop started at 2 pm and finished at 6 pm in the same day. The main objective was to help students be able to get more information about Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and to create awareness between those students. The event was free of charge.

There were 5 main sessions of the workshop, which can be seen in Figure 1, and all these sessions lasted 40 minutes each. By giving more priorities to female students in terms of attendance, their participation was maximized. The number of female students was 55 while there were 45 male students, making a total number of students in the event 100. The age group of the students: between 8 and 14 years old. Before attending the workshop, all students filled out an attendance form. Scientix ambassador SYA was also involved in the workshop as a volunteer co-teacher.

Figure 1. Sessions of the STEM Workshop held in Ankara, Taurus Mall on 15 February, 2020
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