The project, implemented in collaboration with the Nature Conservation Center (DKM) and METU, started on October 12, 2023 with a presentation explaining the university's nature to students and a nature walk on the METU campus. The aim of the project was for third-year students in the Industrial Design Department to develop a mobile application on a topic related to the nature of the campus and to raise awareness of a group they designated.
The project, which covers topics such as better explaining the plant and animal diversity on the METU campus to both students and visiting guests, providing nature education to students at a young age, and methods that allow them to interact more with nature , includes, was completed with the presentation of 21 applications to the jury last month.
Tuğba Can, Senior Nature Education Specialist at DKM, shared the details of the project and said that they first gave the students information about the steppe, forest and wetland ecosystems on campus during their walk at METU.
Can explained that the students created different designs as part of the same project: “There was only one goal, to protect the nature of METU. While some focused on plant species, others conducted studies on yoga and consciousness as students.” had stress on campus and nature is a good solution to stress. “Since some of them were interested in computer games, they focused on learning about nature and raising awareness through these games,” he said.
Can pointed out that conservation activities on the METU campus, which is under pressure from urbanization, are supported by studies carried out in collaboration with the university and non-governmental organizations, and pointed to the importance of conservation projects called “citizen science” , which brings together citizens with scientists and non-governmental organizations.
“It can spread to other universities”
METU Faculty of Architecture, Industrial Design Department, Lecturer Prof. Dr. Bahar Şener-Pedgley said that they aimed to enable students to study a subject that is usually not often mentioned.
Şener-Pedgley continued as follows:
“We have been in close contact with the DKM since the project began; we designed the project together. 21 groups completed the project with 21 designs. In fact, while they were all nature-oriented, they touched on very different topics. For example, with the theme “Identifying Species,” kids will have an enjoyable time and learn about species when they come to campus. “At this point, the projects have been completed and all have been completed in the form of interactive mobile applications.” . We evaluated them together.”
Stating that they are positive about the idea of enriching the project in collaboration with DKM and expanding it to other universities in Turkey, Şener-Pedgley stated that they will carry out a project that will raise both awareness and love for the Awaken nature and expand knowledge about nature.
Some applications are included in the project
Sudenaz Bir, a third-year student at METU Industrial Design Department, who designed a mobile application called Wanderer's Journal with her friends, gave the following information:
“First of all, there is a METU map in our application. There are specific regions on this map. Children select these regions and then see the biodiversity there. They transfer the information they learn from the games to their diaries. During this process we held various meetings with METU College and METU Kindergarten and had students test our application. “From the feedback we received, we learned that our application was compatible with the first and second grade curriculum.”
Mehmet Emin Gül, a third-year student of METU Industrial Design Department, emphasized that their goal is to explain the nature of METU to people in the most useful way, thanks to the application called “naturabitra” that they developed with his group .
Gül explained that they were influenced by the nomadic culture of the Turks and exchanged ideas on how to bring tradition and nature together:
“In application, for example, Hıdırellez is one of our most famous events. When people come to Hıdırellez and open the application, they can see what they are going to do, they can take photos, upload their photos and even upload photos of their friends. This way, at the end of each semester, we tell people about the activities they had with different photos. One of our events is “It's about introducing a tree stump.” We want them to find a tree stump and here we explain how to do it, to distinguish it and how to find it. People lean in, take photos, upload them to the system. At the same time, we give scientists information about which plant is where.”
The application increases contact with nature
Yağmur Ece Arslan, a third-year student at the Faculty of Industrial Design, explained that with the “Bio Wander” application, they developed a navigation system that uses the routes they use every day on campus and allows other users to do so to personalize these routes so you are more exposed to nature.
Arslan stated that they played two scenarios in the application, saying that in the first scenario there are routes where the user who wants to go from one point to another can be more exposed to nature with the support of the algorithm, namely, in the second scenario, there is a high probability that the user will come across a species that the user is curious about or wants to see. He shared the information that a route had been created.
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