2017-2018 ACADEMIC YEAR

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

1. FUTURE ENGINEERS COMPETITION

This is a contest organized by METU Development Foundation Ankara School with the aim of providing students with an environment in which they can develop high-level thinking skills and gain an innovative perspective. The competition will increase students' level of basic knowledge about science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as facilitate problem solving in every day life encounters and will produce creative solution proposals. Another aim is for students to develop positive attitudes towards science, technology and engineering. Turkish middle school students participate and compete as a team.  Students produced designs adhere to the competition theme determined every year.

2. MDFS SCIENCE TOURNAMENT

MDFS Science Tournament is organized by METU DF Middle School under the leadership of the Science Coordinator and is attended by 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students of the branch schools and the schools receiving consultancy services. The tournament consists of five categories. These categories are photography, poster creation, documentary making, game creation and instant solution solving competitions. Competitions are held in the afore-mentioned categories depending on the theme set by the Tournament Management Team every year.

In the final tournament, which will take place at METU DF Ankara School, winners in each category are assessed by experts in the field. At the end of the tournament, the school with the highest total score in all categories is announced as the winner of the tournament.

3. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WEEK

Every year, the second week of March is celebrated as "Science and Technology Week". Activities are organized in accordance with the selected theme, presentations are made by the experts in the field, and students present their projects demonstrating scientific process skills at the Science Fair held during this week.

4. PARTNER SCHOOL SCIENCE PROGRAM (PSSP) 

Our school is involved in the Partner School Science Program, which is hosted by Space Camp Turkey and NASA. Students participating in the program share the projects they have conducted in different areas through video conferences with students from countries such as the United States, Greece, Bulgaria, and Israel. Students can participate in "International Summer Camp" programs organized at "Space Camp Turkey". In the English-language program, students will also have the opportunity to participate in the activities of NASA employees.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACTIVITIES

1. SCIENCE HEROES MEET - FLL (FIRST LEGO LEAGUE)

Science Heroes Meet ensures children and young people aged 9-16 see themselves as “scientists and engineers sensitive to society” and is the Turkish leg of a science-based international tournament named FIRST LEGO League (FLL) to which over 25,000 teams from 80 countries around the world join.

Teams participating in the tournament will design and implement a robot that performs tasks in the tournament arena as soon as possible while being coached by our school's Information Technology Teachers. Teams will run a research project about a problem that concerns the whole world each season, under the supervision of our school's Science Teachers, as well as coaches. Throughout this journey, teamwork, sharing experiences, friendly competition rules, process-oriented and responsive professionalism guide students. Children and young people participating in tournaments have a fun, process-oriented experience in not only science, art and technology but also expression, listening, presentation, sharing and teamwork subjects. These experiences encourage students to imagine themselves as future scientists, engineers, active entrepreneurs and sensitive world citizens.

Our school is honored to represent our country after earning the “Innovative Solution Award”.

2. INTERNET WEEK

Programs by non-governmental informatics organizations declared 10-21 April of each year as “Internet Week” on the anniversary of the internet’s introduction in Turkey.  The aim is to enhance internet development, initiate novel projects, introduce and spread internet to large masses, and perform activities that accelerate the internet in Turkey.  In our school, "Internet Week" is celebrated with various activities. Expert panels are organized and participants are informed on current topics. Expert guests aim to increase awareness by sharing information on various topics such as "what is cyber bullying, what are the causes of cyber bullying, how can we be protected from cyber traps, and what are the consequences of cybercrime and cyber bullying for our children?"

3. INFORMATICS WEEK

Every year the first week of May is celebrated as "Informatics Week". It is celebrated in our school with different, colorful, exciting, edutaining and technology-rich activities. Expert guests in the field come together with students and presentations are shared.

4. HOUR OF CODE

Each year our students participate in the "Hour of Code", the largest learning event on the international stage. The aim is to increase the digital competence of our students. The event starts by logging in to www.hourofcode.org. For one hour, all students code popular games such as MineCraft, StarWars, Labyrinth and learn the basics of programming. In a world where we are interacting with technology and computers, learning to code means gaining stronger skills to produce new ideas. At the end of the "Hour of Code" students are awarded certificates.

5. KIDS CAN CODE

Every year in our school, the Kids Can Code competition is held with the participation of our students who are interested in writing code, computer technology and innovations in technology. For five days, workshops on programming languages ​​such as Ardunio, Lego Mindstorms, RS Idea, Scratch, Code Game, HTML are organized. Students at these workshops are encouraged to design on their computers, create web pages and encode games. In the competition held with the participation of our branch schools, the jury will rate the games according to the determined criteria. Games ranking the highest will be awarded prizes.