Healthy living and conscious technology workshops for students at the village school

The project ‘Healthy Living and Conscious Technology Use Workshops in Village Schools’, prepared by the Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Addiction Combat Coordination, has been entitled to support within the scope of TÜBİTAK’s 4009-Support Program for Village Schools.

In the study led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sevinç Sütlü and Lecturer Özge Kutlu; Lecturer Nida Nur Ekici, Lecturer Dr. Mine Ömercioğlu, and İrem Azak also took part in conducting the workshop activities.

Within the scope of the project, various workshop activities were organized for two days on September 24-25, 2026, at Kocaaliler Middle School. The aim was for students to develop healthy living habits, use technology more consciously, and gain early awareness against addictions.

Students experienced while learning

Instead of classical narration methods in the workshops, a station-based and experiential learning approach was adopted where students were directly involved in the process. Students conducted practical studies on various topics through experiments, physical activities, attention and reflex applications, intelligence games, and daily life scenarios.

While the concept of addiction was not only addressed through theoretical knowledge within the project, it aimed for students to realize the importance of healthy choices through scientific discovery and daily life experiences.

They measured the effects of movement on the body

In the ‘My Heart and Movement Workshop’, students observed the effects of movement on the body by measuring their pulse before and after physical activity. In the physical activity course, they participated in applications aimed at developing balance, coordination, and movement skills.

In the ‘Getting to Know Our Brain and Attention-Reflex Experiments Workshop’, students explored the functions of the brain in attention, decision-making, and control of movements through a brain model. They also had the opportunity to experience focus and reaction times through attention and reflex applications.

They learned ways to use technology consciously

One of the notable activities of the project was the ‘Screen Light Experiment and Virtuality Awareness Workshop’. Students observed the effects of screen light on the eyes through experiments. Information was shared about healthy screen use, screen breaks, resting the eyes, and the 20-20-20 rule in the workshop.

In addition, applications were carried out to raise awareness among students about questioning the information they encounter in digital environments, safe internet use, and behaving consciously in virtual environments.

Decision-making skills were supported with intelligence games

In the ‘Smart Choices and Intelligence Games Workshop’, educational games were organized to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy behaviors based on examples from daily life.

Through team-based games and intelligence activities, it was aimed to support students' decision-making, analytical thinking, attention and focus skills, as well as their social skills.

Science was brought together with daily life

In the ‘Science with Experiments Workshop’, students discovered the connection between scientific knowledge and daily life through different experiments. In the workshop where soap making, detective work, air games, and ‘science doctor’ experiments were conducted, applications aimed at materializing the addiction cycle were also included.

Through the activities carried out over two days, it contributed to students gaining awareness in the fields of healthy living, physical activity, conscious technology use, attention, correct decision-making, and scientific thinking.

It is aimed that the project, carried out with TÜBİTAK support, will strengthen university-community collaboration and contribute to the dissemination of applications developed in the field of healthy living and combating addiction to students in different village schools.