New projects that Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Vahap Seçer initiated to provide equal opportunities in education in 13 districts of Mersin continue to be added. While the Metropolitan Municipality mobilizes all its resources to ensure that every child has equal and free access to the right to education, the Women and Family Services Department also published a children’s magazine called ‘Following the Future in Pursuit of Science’. The magazine also holds the title of being the first children’s magazine in Turkey whose content was produced with artificial intelligence.
The magazine, published by Mezitli Women and Children, Science and Technology Workshop instructors, includes entertaining information about the history of technology, the future of technology, algorithms, coding, scientists, sustainability, experiments and artificial intelligence for children who want to explore science, technology and the near future.
Every child in Mersin will have access to technology
Providing information about the magazine published for children who are curious about science, Emre Aşkın, Head of Women and Children’s Science, Technology Workshops, said, “We prepared the magazine as a team to be able to offer children activities related to science and technology in particular. In many magazines, the content offered to children included activities that required external materials. We entered a design process so that children could do these activities with materials they could find at home,” and explained the rich content they prepared.
Aşkın: “We have created Turkey’s first children’s magazine supported by artificial intelligence”
Aşkın, who stated that children gave positive feedback to the magazine, said, “We were very excited about the feedback we received. The messages that children gave us with this magazine were very valuable. That is why we decided to prepare the magazine at certain periods. We are already using current technology in this regard. We have created Turkey’s first children’s magazine supported by artificial intelligence.” Aşkın, who stated that they have access to new content with artificial intelligence, also stated that there will be many technological topics that will attract children’s attention.
The theme of the next magazine is ‘Solar energy’
Aşkın, who announced that the theme of the next issue will be ‘solar energy’, said that they wanted to convey solar energy awareness to children and said, “Because especially in the Mediterranean region, when I look around, I go to the plateaus especially for rural village meetings and I have observed that electricity production with solar panels has increased considerably in the plateaus.” Aşkın, who also announced that they will organize events based on the themes they have determined, said, “We will determine a theme for each magazine and focus on events based on the theme. Sometimes it can be space, sometimes energy, sometimes sustainability. We will plan these and introduce them to children.”
“We fully demonstrate equality of opportunity in education”
Aşkın, who reminded that President Seçer attached great importance to equal opportunities in education, said, “The magazine was also one of the examples of this. In fact, our workshops are also a kind of indicator of equal opportunities. Technology is an expensive tool. We also strive to teach all the educational dimensions of technology to children in our workshop. When necessary, we take our materials here as mobile during rural events. Education is already continuing for women and children in our workshop. Currently, visits to our workshop from rural neighborhoods have also started. Our science bus brings children from different neighborhoods every day. We completely demonstrate equal opportunities in education.”
“There is a future in Mersin, and the future is in Mersin”
Aşkın, who said that the magazine would be a good resource for children who do not have access to technology, said, “With this work, we will also present the knowledge of our workshops to children in order to increase their imagination. As our teachers in the workshop, we say, ‘On the trail of science, in pursuit of the future’ and we strive to deliver this magazine to the 13 districts of Mersin along with our other activities. There is a future in Mersin, and the future is in Mersin,” and concluded his words.
