Hacettepe STEM & Maker Lab was established in 2009. H-STEM & Maker Lab has been involved in several EC FP7 (e.g., S-TEAM, SAILS, MaScil),  Horizon 2020  (e.g., MOST), Horizon Europe (e.g. ICSE Science Factory) and Erasmus+ projects (3C4Life, STING, ENSITE, and INSTEM).

We do believe that formal, informal, and non-formal education should engineer the future of society by empowering their imagination, creativity, and innovation. We would like to contribute to Horizon Europe consortiums related to:

• Open schooling and collaboration on science education,
• Grounding RRI in society with a focus on citizen science
• Science education outside the classroom,
• The gender perspective of science, technology, and innovation (STI) in dialogue with third countries,
• Gender Equality Academy and dissemination of gender knowledge across Europe,
• Innovators of the future: bridging the gender gap,
• Exploring and supporting citizen science,
• Hands-on citizen science and frugal innovation.

Hacettepe STEM & Maker Lab's areas of research: 

• Promoting Public Engagement with STEM

STEM & Maker Fest/Expo: Every year, we organize a STEM & Makers Fest/Expo. STEM & Maker Fest/Expo is a member of the European Public Engagement Association (EUSEA). STEM & Makers Fest/Expo aims to promote public engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It unites STEM practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and the public to enhance the quality of STEM education and broaden participation in STEM. So far, more than 250,000 participants from different age groups have engaged in STEM & Makers activities. The festivals have been held in 13 different provinces and the number of these provinces and people is increasing day by day with your contributions. STEM & Makers Fest/Expo has been organized in collaboration among universities, schools, local authorities, and industry. www.stemandmakers.org 

• Teacher Professional Development 

STEM PD Community of Practice (STEM CoP), founded in 2019 as an outcome of the STEM PD Net project, is an independent body of the network. Its overall aim is to provide a platform for knowledge exchange among its participants. Through each of its members, the network aims to substantially improve STEM education as it happens on a day-to-day basis in schools, by investing in teacher professional development. This means ensuring that the design, provision, and delivery of STEM professional development of the highest quality, research-based, and corresponding to teachers’ needs. The network’s aims and activities, as currently defined are geared towards supporting these goals.

STEM CoP organizes the “International STEM Education Conference” and its social media channels provide resources to teachers, initiating an online forum for teachers and lecturers. www.stempd.net 

• School-Industry-Policy Partnership

Turkish STEM Alliance, founded in 2015, is an independent body of a network for promoting public engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). It unites STEM practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and the public to enhance the quality of STEM education and broaden participation in STEM. Turkish STEM Alliance consists of several different members from science centers, science museums, PD centers, NGOs, STEM centers, companies, research centers, and public organizations. Turkish STEM Alliance is a member of the EU STEM Coalition. https://www.stemalliance.org.tr

• Journals and policy reports

We publish journals, books, and white papers on STEM education.

- Journal of Research in STEM Education 

- Journal of Multimedia Enriched STEM Education

- White paper: A report on STEM Education in Turkey: A provisional agenda or a necessity

• Promoting public understanding of STEM through popular media: 

STEM News Aggregator: www.bilimiletisimi.com (in Turkish), www.bilimiletisimi.com/en (in English), which aggregates science, technology, health, education, and business news content from a variety of sources (e.g. online newspapers and popular magazines) and feeds them to its users.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Gultekin Cakmakci (Director, Hacettepe STEM & Maker Lab)       

cakmakci@hacettepe.edu.tr

You can use the following images for quick access to the websites, run by Hacettepe STEM & Maker Lab team.