SCIENCE IN SOCIETY DEPARTMENT

TUBITAK has taken important strides in its quest for a wider and more interactive relationship with the public in line with its mission of vanguarding the rise of a science-oriented society.

To facilitate the task and increase its accessability to the public, it carried out a sweeping restructuring of its relevant departments. At the forefront of the reform package was the establishment of a Science and Society Department which took over the helm of the Council’s successful set of publications and complemented them with a broad spectrum of innovative tools. To forge closer ties with the public and help enhance the quality of education, it recruited qualified new personnel chosen from among the graduates of the country’s top universities and set them at the task of creating novel instruments to supplement the existing ones. To open new and wider avenues for bringing science to the people, first preparatory steps were taken for the establishment of a vast, world-class Science Centre in Istanbul, incorporating hands-on science consoles, nature and science museums, a planetarium, an aquarium, botanical gardens, a lunapark and recreational facilities.

Cognizant of the fact that it could not and should not be the sole outlet for the dissemination of science, the Department has laid the groundwork for financial support to Science in Society projects submitted by individuals, universities or local governments. Beside cash grants, the range of support includes provision of advice and expertise.
      
To widen TÜBİTAK’s own outreach to the student body, Merakli Minik (Curious Puppy), a new magazine addressed to pre-school children was launched at the start of 2007 to add to the list of the Council's best selling popular science magazines. Elder sisters are Bilim ve Teknik (Science and Technology), addressed to high-school and university students as well as the general public and Bilim Cocuk (Science for Children), tailored for the needs of the eight-year compulsory primary school education. The latter two, meanwhile continued preparations to start adding multimedia instruments to their multi-vector operations, with CDs with 3-D animations on a broad range of scientific subjects. Noteworthy is the fact that a DVD issued free by Bilim ve Teknik in June 2006, containing the complete 39-year archive of the magazine, caused a nationwide rush to the kiosks and bookstores, calling for the printing of second and third editions and quadrupling the sales to a records-smashing 160.000. The magazine gave out another 90.000 CDs the following month, bringing the number of families provided with a popular science reference material to 250.000.
 
Among projects with priority tags are science camps for students and the production and sale of scientific toys and observation kits. Task forces were assigned to identify best venues for campsites or sort through imported toy samples and probe local production capabilities.

Steps were also taken to set up mechanisms of consultation and collaboration with the National Education Ministry for content development and raising the quality of textbooks. Fully aware of the importance of the Internet as an educational tool, TUBITAK improved its communications and computer infrastructure and restructured its website, commissioning expertise from the country’s leading software developers.

Science and Society Department also continued to increase and vary its activities to mobilise the productive potential of the students and stimulate their creativity. The Formula-G event which challenged the students to produce and race solar-powered cars in 2005, was repeated in 2006 with participants more than doubling to over 30 universities which fielded some 40 cars built by students themselves. Encouraged by the enthusiasm, TÜBİTAK also set a tougher challenge for 2007, the Hidromobil-07, in which universities will compete in a race with the fuel cell-powered cars their students will build.

While TÜBİTAK’s popular invention fairs and star parties for amateur astronomers drew enthusiastic crowds also in 2006, plans were being drawn for a solar-powered research boat and an array of radio-telescopes, to be built by universities with TÜBİTAK support to mark the country’s debut in the field.