The students of Selçuk Yusuf Arslan, a Turkish teacher recipient of the Global Teacher Award in the competition organized by India in 2018 and one of the 50 best teachers in the world in the Global Teacher Prize, achieved proud success by reaching the final stage of a competition to be held in German capital Berlin.
The students of Arslan, who voluntarily chose to teach at a vocational high school, outperformed their peers at renowned schools worldwide,securing a spot in the finals of the "Future League" competition focusing on sustainability.
Atatürk Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School students Abdüssamed Kuru, Melissa Asya Yıldırım and Cafer Berat Gülsoy, under the mentorship of their teachers Arslan and Timur Gündoğan, will present their recycling projects in upcoming days in Germany. Only 10 teams were featured to take part in the final of the Future League competition in Berlin.
The nonprofit educational initiative Science on Stage Germany initiated the "Future League" competition across Europe to address environmental issues and encourage young people to take responsibility for a sustainable future.
Teachers and students were requested to develop class projects that creatively address one or more of the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.
Accordingly, teams from a total of 17 countries responded to the call and applied. An international jury consisting of STEM education, sustainability and innovation experts then undertook the challenging task of selecting the top 10 project ideas. Among the selected projects was Altındağ Atatürk Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in the capital Ankara.
The project developed by the three students is called "Smart Recycling." With the help of a webcam, three servo motors and a self-programmed object recognition feature, three trash bins were built that identify waste glass, plastic and organic waste before disposal, allowing the correct trash bin to open automatically.
Speaking to Sabah, Arslan said: "At the end of each year, we organize a project exhibition. We try to motivate our students who succeed in design, robotics and software categories. Last year, we submitted the standout project of the exhibition, the 'Smart Recycling' project, to the Future League competition. The project became one of the 10 projects invited to the European finals, and we earned the right to represent our country in the final in Berlin."
"I congratulate the students in the project team. Their achievements encouraged other friends at school. At the same time, contributing to a sustainable world with the project is also gratifying."