We're at School: Osmangazi Project

School-based community work continues in Bursa with private sector, community, university collaboration and neurosequential education practices. In the ongoing project coordinated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özden Bademci and facilitated by Kaya Yüksek, İbrahim Eren, and Melike Arslan from SOYAÇ, 114 people are involved, including 56 university students (from Psychology, Nutrition and Dietetics, Child Development, Philosophical Counseling, Elementary Mathematics Teaching, Body Psychotherapy Certified Clinical Psychology Master's Program), 20 teachers, 15 BOSCH BirİZ Social Responsibility Club volunteers, 1 international intern student, 20 faculty members, and other volunteers. Within the scope of the project, work has begun with child psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Bruce Perry and his team, who is the founder of the Child Trauma Academy (https://www.childtrauma.org/) and one of the leading figures in the field of neurodevelopmental trauma. Prof. Dr. Bruce Perry, author of books such as "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog" and "What Happened to You?", has had worldwide impact with his studies on the effects of neglect and abuse on children's still-developing brains. The Neurosequential Model in Education has been developed by Steve Graner, senior trainer of the Child Trauma Academy, for supporting abused children in school, adopting the principle of being sensitive and respectful to child development in all aspects. Teachers working at a primary school in Bursa with high dropout rates were given training in the neurosequential model in education. Teachers were supported by students continuing in the Body Psychotherapy Certified Clinical Psychology Master's Program and volunteers from the BOSCH BirİZ Social Responsibility Club in accompaniment with the SOYAÇ Model. Within the scope of the project, family support studies were carried out in cooperation with Istanbul Marmara Education Foundation, our University's founding foundation, and Marmara University Nutrition and Dietetics Department, and children were supported with play and philosophy workshops in the classroom.

Within the scope of the project, work has begun with child psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Bruce Perry and his team, who is the founder of the Child Trauma Academy (https://www.childtrauma.org/) and one of the leading figures in the field of neurodevelopmental trauma. Prof. Dr. Bruce Perry, author of books such as "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog" and "What Happened to You?", has had worldwide impact with his studies on the effects of neglect and abuse on children's still-developing brains. The Neurosequential Model in Education has been developed by Steve Graner, senior trainer of the Child Trauma Academy, for supporting abused children in school, adopting the principle of being sensitive and respectful to child development in all aspects. Teachers working at a primary school in Bursa with high dropout rates were given training in the neurosequential model in education. Teachers were supported by students continuing in the Body Psychotherapy Certified Clinical Psychology Master's Program and volunteers from the BOSCH BirİZ Social Responsibility Club in accompaniment with the SOYAÇ Model. Within the scope of the project, family support studies were carried out in cooperation with Istanbul Marmara Education Foundation, our University's founding foundation, and Marmara University Nutrition and Dietetics Department, and children were supported with play and philosophy workshops in the classroom.

In the Spring Semester of the 2021-2022 Academic Year, 13 Body Psychotherapy Certified Clinical Psychology Master's Program students received group supervision support under the coordination of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özden Bademci for 5 hours per course, for 14 weeks, within the scope of project work.

Teacher Support Studies: Case Studies with Interdisciplinary Class Teams

Class teams were formed for the teachers of the project school under the coordination of students continuing in the Body Psychotherapy Certified Clinical Psychology Master's Program and with the participation of BOSCH BirİZ Social Responsibility Club volunteers. The stories of children addressed in the book titled "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog" were first discussed with Steve Graner, the creator of NEM, with the entire project team; then they were evaluated, including sample cases brought by teachers in weekly class team meetings. The studies were carried out under the supervision and facilitation of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özden Bademci, with the assistance of Kaya Yüksek.

1.1. Therapeutic Group Support with Games: Individual and Group Studies

Helping disadvantaged children develop and supporting them by carrying out projects to prevent them from being excluded from the school system and social life are among the most basic goals of Maltepe University SOYAÇ Center. The SOYAÇ Model developed for this purpose relies on therapeutic peer support based on systems understanding and trauma knowledge, and attachment-based individual and group work to achieve its goals. It is considered important for children to be matched with university students to receive therapeutic peer support by establishing safe and supportive relationships within a system where cooperation between university community institutions is strengthened through interdisciplinary work and inter-institutional relationships. It is also known that children restructure their cognitive development through the establishment of individual and group attachment relationships in sociocultural environments recreated with educational and entertaining activities based on principles appropriate for child development.

According to sociocultural theory and Vygotsky, children learn spontaneously by transferring from interpersonal to intrapersonal processes within relationships they establish with peers and activities they do in environments using various materials, rather than through direct teaching techniques. Children's cognitive development is formed according to the support they receive from relationships established in their proximal development zones, all kinds of materials they use, and types of activities. Tools and equipment involved in social relationships, rules and principles created together, role modeling, and in summary, the social learning method play a determining role in the reorganization of cognitive development.

The Therapeutic Peer Support Group is determined by selecting from psychology students who are highly motivated and volunteer. These students participate in the project in the context of courses for two semesters and can continue as volunteers afterward. They receive training on various topics such as sociocultural theory, developmental trauma, attachment relationships, emotion regulation, group spirit, resilience, and support children's individual development by establishing attachment relationships with them in play groups and individually, and by receiving supervision.

In the We're at School Osmangazi project, a total of 20 students, including 14 psychology undergraduate and 6 volunteer students, participated in the spring semester. Peer counselors were distributed in pairs to ten class teams and played an active role in creating group spirit in the teams and play groups. They also tried to reach one or two students by being matched with them in the group or individually. They will try to establish bonds by constantly calling the children directly or through their families. Therapeutic peer counselor psychology students aim to establish safe attachment relationships with children first in the group and then one-on-one by doing fun and educational activities with children in play groups. It is aimed for children to become more active in the groups, participate more, express themselves, follow the rules, and develop their skills by modeling peer counselors. In individual peer support, it is aimed to develop children's desire to think about themselves and their goals, and to continue attending school, by establishing safe relationships similarly. Thus, children are provided with psychological support to develop resistance and resilience and to be strengthened.

In the Spring Semester of the 2021-2022 Academic Year, 20 Psychology undergraduate students received group supervision support from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Figen Karadayı, Lecturer Diğdem Enermen, and Lecturer Gülşah Yelişyurt for 3 hours per course, for 14 weeks, within the scope of project work.

1.2 Peer Support Based Therapeutic Group Studies: Play Workshop

Children need support in their unique worlds, sometimes through a tool like play. Play supports children both developmentally and educationally; it guides children in acquiring positive behaviors, socializing, gaining empathy skills, and getting to know themselves and the world. Additionally, through play, children can become aware of their own interests and needs; they can become individuals who are sensitive and highly aware in individual, social, and scientific aspects.

For education to be able to create behavioral changes in individuals, it is necessary for these individuals to continuously participate in the education system [4]. Within the scope of the We're at School: Osmangazi studies, games are planned by considering the Neuro-sequential Education Model (NEM), which is an educational model developed to help students understand their behaviors and academic performance, and by evaluating a trauma-informed perspective. The basic purpose of the studies is to support increasing school attendance by establishing a therapeutic relationship with students through the Neuro-sequential Education Model and an interdisciplinary holistic perspective. Within the scope of this project, some play-based activity suggestions that can be implemented online are prepared under the guidance of Child Development faculty members on determined days and time intervals, together with other team members in the class teams. These activities are rehearsed during the meeting, and how the activities can be implemented with students at different grade levels is discussed. These activities are aimed to be used as a tool to support students' social and emotional development, to enable them to recognize individual differences and socially integrate, and to create group dynamics. Additionally, through these activities, it is aimed for students to perceive themselves as a whole with school and society, to build their own values, and to gain self-confidence and learning motivation by increasing their excitement and curiosity within supportive learning relationships.

As a result of all these studies, it is predicted that team members and students will have the opportunity to get to know each other more closely, students' sense of belonging to the group will be supported, as well as their ability to act together with the group, cooperate, think abstractly, and pay attention, and they will be able to express their wishes and needs.

In the Spring Semester of the 2021-2022 Academic Year, 20 Psychology undergraduate and 6 Child Development Program students received group supervision support for 3 hours per course, for 14 weeks, within the scope of project work.

1.3. Philosophy Education for Children

Philosophy with Children is a pedagogy based on the method of investigating concepts such as honesty, courage, love, friendship, justice, environment, nature, identity, etc., which are within the scope of basic philosophy sub-branches that we define as problem philosophy and which are also part of children's daily life experiences, as a community. It is also an educational method recommended for application in branch courses such as mathematics, history, geography. The headings that form the conceptual framework of the application are as follows:

Stimulus ∙ Circle ∙ Inquiring Community ∙ Philosophical question/problem ∙ Facilitator

In the application, at least five participants are positioned in a circle under the guidance of a facilitator. Participants who come together as a group reach the consciousness of an inquiring community as the process progresses. This consciousness is one of the basic indicators that the four thinking skills, which are expressed as the basic achievements of philosophy with children, "Critical", "Creative", "Caring", "Collaborative" thinking skills, have developed. (Lipman, 2012: 195) The value of these four basic skills in practice is equal to each other, one is not more important than the other. The community is positioned in a circle, emphasizing the idea that the facilitator is not an authority and everyone is equal to each other. In online inquiries, it is the facilitator's responsibility to bring awareness about the "perception of equal distance" to the community. The process continues with the facilitator sharing the stimulus that they have prepared through a certain preparation process and asking the first question about the stimulus. As the community develops, questions are expected to be asked by the participants, and this expectation is met as a natural result of development. In this preparation process, the facilitator determines which concepts will be investigated, which sub-branch of philosophy these concepts are within the scope of, their open question about the stimulus, and the carrier and closed questions that will lead the community to concept inquiry. The stimulus can be a book, a film, a poem, a tweet, a joke, a work of art, a song, or a daily life experience. The basic feature that should be in the stimulus is that it contains a philosophical question/problem/conflict. The method was developed by Prof. Dr. Matthew Lipman in the late 1960s and later by Ann Sharp. Besides the development of the four thinking skills, which are the basic achievements of the method, there are also other achievements.

These are: ∙ Developing language skills and self-expression ∙ Defining concepts, determining their boundaries ∙ Questioning and reasoning ∙ Justifying thoughts and establishing cause-effect relationships ∙ Abstract thinking ∙ Active listening ∙ Self-knowledge, understanding, structuring oneself as a subject ∙ Developing a philosophical understanding of life

In the online classroom activities we carry out within the scope of the Center for Implementation and Research for Street-Living and Working Children (SOYAÇ) "We're at School: Osmangazi Project," studies are carried out where children are not passive receivers but active producers of knowledge, they are interested in questions rather than answers, and their learning skills are developed not through memorization but by investigating and generating questions. The studies are carried out by Maltepe University Philosophy Department Philosophical Counseling Thesis Master's students.

2. Women's Studies Based on Gender Equality

Although every individual has the right to education, health, employment, politics, law, and active participation in decision-making processes, today, equal opportunity cannot be provided in the participation of especially women in these human rights. There is a need for community-based studies based on gender equality. For this purpose, "We're at School: Osmangazi Project Women's Studies Based on Gender Equality" was carried out; mothers of children attending the project school were tried to be supported with two separate activities as "Literacy Basic Education" and "Applied Healthy Kitchen Workshop."

2.1. Applied Healthy Nutrition Workshop with Families

School age is an important period in terms of gaining healthy nutrition and lifestyle habits and creating awareness, and preventing adulthood diseases (TÜBER, 2015; Dudley, 2015). In this respect, nutrition education can eliminate unwanted behaviors and develop nutrition behaviors that support healthy and productive life instead (Aktaç et al., 2019). Studies show that a short-term and age-appropriate nutrition education intervention has an important place in increasing nutrition knowledge in primary school students (Dudley, 2015; Nguyen, 2017; Rosi et al., 2016). However, theoretical-based nutrition education programs are mostly used to help children gain healthy eating habits, which limits children's ability to try new foods and promote healthy changes. In this respect, using applied models together with nutrition education is effective in making education permanent and creating a healthy lifestyle (Gibbs et al., 2013).

Since the first learning in children begins with their parents, nutrition education that children will receive together with their parents plays a key role in creating nutrition strategies for children to ensure balanced and healthy nutrition and in eliminating the risk of diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases caused by unhealthy eating habits (Scaglioni et al., 2008; Patino-Fernandez et al., 2013). In addition to providing nutrition knowledge through education, the education also has positive contributions to the child-parent relationship (Marshall, 2020). This study was planned to evaluate the effect of nutrition education given to primary school students together with their parents for cooking healthy recipes on their food preferences, nutrition attitudes, and knowledge and skills for cooking.

The study is supported by the Tübitak University Students Research Projects Support Program (2209-A). Each of the 5 online kitchen workshops planned within the scope of the study has been organized to last approximately 60-90 minutes. The workshops will be held via online video conference method. In each workshop, a food group will be addressed, and while preparing a recipe where this food group is in the foreground, nutrition information about this food group will be given to the child-parent during this time. Before the workshops, families will be contacted, consents for the participation of the child and parent will be obtained, and information about the workshops will be provided. Information about the family's eating habits and practices will be obtained with the help of a questionnaire before the workshops. After each workshop, opinions from the child and parent about the workshop will be taken. After the workshops, the questionnaire on eating habits and opinions will be renewed. With these workshops, it is aimed for the child-parent to gain awareness, knowledge, and skills, and develop attitudes that promote healthy nutrition. It is important to develop and disseminate studies that support healthy nutrition with the opportunity to include children and their parents.

2.2. Literacy Education for Adults

Equal opportunity in education also applies to adults who have never been able to go to school or who have not completed their compulsory education. Not knowing how to read and write does not prevent a person from thinking and developing themselves. However, all developing countries agree that illiteracy is a significant obstacle to a nation's modernization (Kadıoğlu, 2012). The concept of literacy, which began with human history, constitutes the most basic learning area. Literacy is considered both a constitutional and a fundamental human right in today's world. In this respect, it constitutes one of the priority agenda items of the world in general and Turkey in particular (Elkatmış, 2013). A prerequisite for participating in other social or vocational education programs is knowing how to read and write. Literacy is a key that opens the door to other educational opportunities (Nohl & Sayılan, 2014). In this context, this study aimed to provide literacy skills to adults who are not literate. The study was carried out within the scope of the "We're at School Osmangazi" Project, coordinated by İMEV, in cooperation with SOYAÇ.

The facilitation of the activities carried out in the study is done by 13 students studying at Maltepe University Elementary Mathematics Teaching Program who wanted to participate in the activities voluntarily. The participants of the study were determined from the parents of the students at a school addressed within the scope of the "We're at School Osmangazi" Project. The study is planned to be carried out in the second semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. In this context, first, illiterate parents will be identified; then, studies will begin with parents who want to participate voluntarily. The studies in question will be carried out online so that parents and students can participate in the studies at times convenient for them. The students who take part in the realization of the studies will form groups among themselves and ensure that the studies are carried out without interruption. In this context, some of the students will prepare materials for literacy studies, while others will conduct online lessons with parents participating in literacy studies. It is planned that the lessons will be held at times and frequencies suitable for the parents. The materials prepared by the students for literacy studies will be shared with the parents in advance, ensuring that the parents come prepared for the lessons. In addition, a basic level literacy book and writing notebook will be delivered to the parents by mail. To prevent the studies from being interrupted, the activity coordinator and facilitators will hold an online meeting every week. In these meetings, both the previous week will be evaluated and the studies to be done the following week will be compared.

As a result of the study, it is planned for the parents to be ready to receive a first-level literacy certificate. Additionally, it is planned to provide necessary guidance for these parents to obtain a second-level achievement certificate.

2.3. Psychosocial Support

Two master's students continuing in Maltepe University Body Psychotherapy Certified Clinical Psychology Thesis Master's Program provided psychosocial support to 4 volunteers from the mothers who participated in literacy basic education and applied healthy kitchen workshops. In psychosocial support studies carried out as three sessions for each mother, the issues brought up by the mothers and jointly determined topics were focused on; support was tried to be provided by using short-term solution-focused and body-oriented therapeutic techniques for the needs of the mothers.

3. Trauma-Informed School-Based Community Studies

3.1. Neurosequential Education Practices – Trainer: Bruce Perry, Steve Graner

Within the scope of "trauma-informed school-based community studies" with private sector-community-university cooperation, work has begun with child psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Bruce Perry and his team, who is the founder of the Child Trauma Academy (https://www.childtrauma.org/) and one of the famous figures directing the field of neurodevelopmental trauma. As known, Prof. Dr. Bruce Perry, author of books such as "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog" and "What Happened to You?", has had worldwide impact with his studies on the effects of neglect and abuse on children's still-developing brains. Prof. Dr. Bruce Perry and Steve Graner, senior trainer of the Child Trauma Academy, created the "Neurosequential Model in Education" that adopts the principle of being sensitive and respectful to child development in all aspects for supporting abused children in school. In this context, teachers working at a primary school with high "school dropout" rates were given "Neurosequential Model in Education" training. Trainer Steve Grener came together with the project team on March 16, March 30, April 13, May 11, May 25, 2022, within the scope of the "Neurosequential Education Practices Seminar Series." Teachers were supported by students continuing in the Body Psychotherapy Certified Clinical Psychology Master's Program and volunteers from the Bosch Bursa BirİZ Social Responsibility Club in accompaniment with the SOYAÇ Model. Additionally, in the project carried out in cooperation with Istanbul Marmara Education Foundation, our University's founding foundation, faculty members and students from Psychology, Child Development, Philosophy, Elementary Mathematics Teaching departments, as well as Marmara University Nutrition and Dietetics Department, worked together.