Project Nature’s Voice by Students of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University

Students of the Public Relations and Promotion program at Canakkale Vocational School of Social Sciences brought together students from the Child Development program of COMU and the preschool students of Ay Nursery at the Dardanos Campus. Following the training given to universities on biomimicry education, which aims to mimic the design and processes of nature to create a more innovative and sustainable world, university students and preschool children had the opportunity to explore nature together.

Students of the Public Relations and Promotion Program in the Marketing and Advertising Department of Canakkale Vocational School of Social Sciences at Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University implemented the ‘Voice of Nature’ project, which emphasizes the importance of nature, as part of their social responsibility course at the Dardanos Campus. Bringing the biomimicry education, which is the adapted version of nature-mimicking management applied by Zeytin Atölye in Istanbul, to Canakkale, the Public Relations students not only showcased a different educational model to fellow university students in the project but also ensured the implementation of this educational model.

The Public Relations and Promotion students, aiming to contribute to an innovative education, targeted the participation of students from a different department at the Vocational School in their social responsibility projects. The biomimicry education provided to the Child Development students, who are prospective teachers at Canakkale Vocational School of Social Sciences, in order to transfer environmental and nature awareness from generation to generation, was conducted by Instructors Elif Meltem Koç and Elif Nur Aksoy, who came from Istanbul for the project.

Exploring Nature with Little Ones

Students of the Child Development program, who learned how to teach children through mimicking nature’s methods, taught environmental and nature awareness to the preschool students they will be teaching in the future. Discovering a different aspect of teaching children how to imagine with nature, the Child Development students put their knowledge into practice. Engaging in learning activities in nature with the preschoolers at Ay Nursery in Canakkale, COMU students explored nature together. By examining birds and bird feathers to understand how airplane wings are made, preschool children made model airplanes with the university students.

Conducting Environmental Education by Sitting on the Grass

The preschoolers combined foam models of Hurkus and Akinci airplanes and attempted to fly them. Providing environmental education by sitting on the grass together and sharing what they learned, the Child Development students closely interacted with the preschool students. Teachers from Zeytin Atölye and Ay Nursery who participated in the project expressed that they observed that the graduating students of the Child Development program at Canakkale Vocational School of Social Sciences are ready to take on roles in nurseries. At the end of the event, coloring books, brochures, and sweets were distributed to the preschool students.