Science Teacher Lights Way for Kids

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 16 November 2017)


Taking science out of the lab and onto the roof.

The Galatasaray Elementary School is found in Çubuklu village
in Van's Çaldıran district on Turkey's border with Iran.  Mahmut
Çakır (27) was appointed as the science teacher at the school 4
years ago as his first assignment.  Mahmut's first action was to set
up a science laboratory at the school, which was founded by the
Galatasaray University Foundation in Istanbul.

 As Mahmut began teaching, though, frequent electrical outages
plagued his efforts so he rolled up his sleeves to build a wind turbine (!).
First, he made the blades from plastic pipes and designed a tail out of
scrap iron.  Mahmut had a motor he found repaired and after 3.5
months there was a small-scale wind turbine atop the school that
now provides all the electricity the school needs.  In addition, Mahmut
has started a 'Nature Corridor' project at the school, planting 300
saplings in the 'Galatasaray Forest' he has set up with his students.

Mahmut conducted a science fair for his students at the school with
a 10,000 TL (about $3K) grant from TÜBİTAK (Turkey's science
organization) and the National Education Ministry gave him the
"Creativity in Teaching and Training Award", which Mahmut will
receive at a ceremony today.  Noting that the climate conditions of
the region are quite severe, Mahmut commented that "in these
difficult conditions my students brave the winter weather just to
spend time and take classes with their teacher." 



 Çaldıran district is in NE Van province on the Iranian border.