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Play Like A Scientist

2020-3-TR01-KA105-0975102020Youth mobilityfinalized
Countries: TR|RO|SK|PT|IT|PL · Grant: €17,824
Creativity and cultureResearch and innovationYouth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy)

Objectives

Research conducted in Turkey (Büyüköztürk & Köklü, 1999) and later in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (Akgün & Güntaş, 2018) have shown that graduate students are not competent in research. It is a long and difficult journey to conduct research, collect and classify data, and carry out these processes within the framework of ethical rules. On the other hand, the ease of access to information through the Internet and the significant decrease in the attention span of individuals make it even more difficult to adapt to this research process. In addition, social media leads to an addiction in the way gamble causes. Refreshing the content by pulling down (swiping) the screen, which has become a classic in social media - such as pulling the lever down on slot devices in casinos - is one of the addictive behavior patterns (The Guardian related article: https://l24.im/yBR4Fg ). Moreover, another addiction-related pattern is the feeling more important and appreciated by getting likes quickly, getting comments from people, and the virtual state of social acceptance/inclusion or exclusion through following and unfollowing. On these platforms, "the fastest way to success" model is processed. In the past, students' role models were hardworking and successful people in science and other areas; however, this situation changes its direction by targeting people who are famous, make a lot of money and show their presence on social media. The stereotyping effect of social media distances young people from science and puts them in a more sexist and racist mentality. In a study conducted among primary school students; it was seen that the scientist model in the minds of primary school students is based on a narrow and discriminative basis, such as “white males mixing chemical substances in a laboratory.” In the study, the children were divided into 2 groups, and while no change was observed in the children who were taught normal science lessons, the other group whom science lessons were enriched by the inclusion of scientists' lives tended to include some new concepts, such as "women, different ethnic groups, science in nature, problem solving" in their “scientist” schemas. Based on these studies, our project aimed to encourage young people to be involved in science or at least improve their “scientist” schemas through breaking down the prejudices. To be able to achieve our goal, our way was to be involved in art as well: theatre. In this way, we aimed to enable participants to gain both artistic and scientific achievements. In the mobility we carried out, we aimed to develop self-confidence and empathy of young people while providing them with an environment where they can raise their awareness about science by learning more about science and research, collecting information on scientists’ lives and works and interactively presenting what they collected, using the novel methods they learnt, and performing arts. Besides, we aimed to develop the self-confidence of young people in theatre and to enable them to be more active and courageous in both artistic and scientific fields. The main purpose of the project, which is also within the scope of Erasmus+ goals, is to provide an environment where young people can develop or increase self-confidence at the stage through theatrical ways, and therefore they can be more active and courageous in artistic and scientific fields. In other words, our goal was to empower young people to understand the complex and fascinating aspects of science and art and to take steps towards reaching sufficient technical knowledge and experience in both scientific and artistic fields. Moreover, we aimed to facilitate them to integrate art and science in creative ways, which would allow them to acquire the ability to be more unique in a personal way both in involving scientific or artistic processes by themselves. In order to set these achieved goals on measurable foundations, we divided them into items as follows; 1) To inform students about both historical and todays’ scientists who can be taken as role models. 2) To shed light on the process behind an invention/discovery/research by emphasizing the effort and unfortunately how scientists’ names can be neglected in today’s technological innovation world. 3) By drawing attention to the personality traits of the scientists in question and the magazine (!) aspects of their lives, to enable participants to realize the human side of scientists and empathize with them. 4) To include art as theatre while underlining the importance of scientific knowledge and research and to display how to integrate them. 5) To enable the participants to work as a group by improving their communication skills due to the interactiveness of the theatre. 6) To provide participants with the ability to prepare and stage a play including detailed processes, such as script writing, role sharing, and script reading. After trainings, to support them to actively participate.

Project partners (6)