Can Turkey train enough STEM children to become global technology players? | Technology News

Istanbul, Turkey- Behind the fighter and attack helicopters displayed at Istanbul Teknofest last week is Turkey’s best hope for realizing its high-tech ambitions.

Rows of air-conditioned tents live in teams of high school and college students. They have participated in dozens of competitions and showcased inventions created in home computers and scientific laboratories across the country.

Although many visitors to the Aviation, Aerospace and Technology Festival come to Ataturk Airport to watch the Turkish Star Sky Show team fly over and other attractions, young innovators may determine Turkey’s future economic competitiveness.

In order to emphasize the importance Turkey places on encouraging future young innovators, the person who presented the award to the winning team Selcuk Bayraktar is the driving force behind Turkey’s indigenous drone industry.

During the six-day competition, the veteran of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a scarlet bomber jacket was filled with kindness when he presented the trophy and congratulated and encouraged his young admirers. And proud.

Akinci PT-2 drone on display at Teknofest 2021 [Photo courtesy of Andrew Wilks]

Sitting outside is Bayraktar’s latest and most exquisite steed, the Akinci PT-2, which was unveiled just last month, with the signature of his father-in-law President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on its nose cone.

Turkish armed drones have proven their value over Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh. This is the most obvious external aspect of the country’s development of its potential by strengthening STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education sign.

At this year’s Teknofest, about 200 teams participated in competitions in the fields of intelligent transportation, biotechnology, education technology, robotics, flying car and drone design, unmanned underwater systems, agricultural technology, and tourism innovation.

“Teknofest started to involve the public in science and technology a few years ago. This is a great sport,” said Gultekin Cakmakci, Professor of STEM and Maker Lab Science Education at Hacettepe University in Ankara.

“Just like in any country, people want to see that we have some engineers and scientists who can innovate and find solutions to problems,” he told Al Jazeera. “This is an optimistic approach, very good.”

Unleash the talents of tomorrow

The goal of STEM education is to ensure the healthy flow of young scientists, designers, and engineers, and to provide support for talent and innovation channels that are critical to the global competitiveness of the economy.

Approximately 38% of Turks are under the age of 25, which means that this country has primitive talents. The trick is to cultivate and release it.

In recent years, STEM centers and laboratories have been established across Turkey, and more and more teachers are receiving training on STEM applications to real-world problems.

Mehmet Basaran, Associate Professor of Educational Science at Gaziantep University, said: “In certain fields, coding is very powerful and will bring new innovations in the future, and may have a real impact in the next five years.”

But there are still some weak links in the pipeline.

“We are now in a good position in STEM education, but not in this field, for example, [with] Job opportunities,” Bazaran told Al Jazeera.

Most experts hope that Turkish students can start STEM education faster.

Approximately 38% of Turks are under the age of 25, which means that the country has primitive STEM talents.The trick is to cultivate it [Photo courtesy of Andrew Wilks]

“Trying to implement STEM education from preschool to high school is actually very important,” said Devrim Akgunduz, director of the STEM Education Research Center at Istanbul Aydin University.

“But what needs to be done next is to develop the right comprehensive STEM education to develop critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration and complex problem solving skills,” he told Al Jazeera. “In this way, students become producers.”

Cakmakci said that for many young people, going to university is also a problem.

“After graduating from high school, about 80% of the population cannot go to college,” he said. “If we want to create a culture of innovation in Turkey, we should start with young people and those who have no chance to go to university.”

talent loss

Another problem that plagues decision makers is the brain drain. According to statistics from the Turkish Statistics Agency, there were more than 330,000 Turks immigrating in 2019, 41% of whom were between 20 and 34 years old.

The Nobel Prize winner Aziz Sankar (left) and other outstanding Turkish scientists have established a reputation abroad [File: Jonas Ekstromer/TT News Agency/Reuters]

Outstanding Turkish scientists have established a reputation abroad, such as Nobel Prize winner chemist Aziz Sancar and husband and wife team Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, the creators of the BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

“There are many reasons for brain drain, economic reasons, opportunity reasons, and funding reasons,” said a leading scientist familiar with the matter.

“But we also need to study how scientific knowledge is generated. Science is a social activity. It requires discussion, equipment, and the freedom to speak your ideas freely. It requires a more democratic approach,” he said .

A potential factor for STEM students to leave may be the lack of suitable job opportunities, which will also discourage students.

“Young learners, especially high school students, don’t want to study mathematics or science, because working in these fields is very hard and it is really difficult to find a job,” said Bassalan, who studied the STEM education report recently submitted to the parliament.

But Akgunduz said that STEM graduates who were previously far away from the academic field in the job market are now looking for relevant jobs. “We expect the employment of graduates in these fields to increase,” he added.

In order to maintain the momentum, Cakmakci called for the expansion of the Teknofest program to encourage participation in STEM. “This will be a more sustainable approach, not just once a year,” he said.

“Not everyone can participate in Teknofest, but our goal is to increase and provide equal opportunities for everyone. We should study different methods of public participation.”