I am Ilkim, and I am 12 years old. I attend Secondary School, which is grade 7. The educational process has developed differently in comparison to other generations. Especially due to the pandemic in 2020, technology has become increasingly more important in our lives. It has allowed us to continue to develop our education, social relationships, and hobbies online. In my years of schooling, I have become more aware of climate change and global goals. STEM-A education is also becoming more prevalent in our courses. Thus, the learning processes of the future and the problems we faced were being reshaped. I wanted to do something too, however, I was unsure of how to start.
“With the inspiration and equipment I got from Twin, my biggest dream when I grow up; I want to work with a team at MIT that generates innovative ideas for our future, and as a role model woman, I want to be able to offer opportunities that will lead to a lot of young people in this process.”
Ilkım, 12 years old
In 2020, my mother worked in a disability care centre and started to board for 10-day periods in order to reduce the social contact of disabled people and protect them from Covid 19 during the pandemic. This made the pandemic process more difficult for us. On one of her return from the boarding shift, my mother brought with her the Twin Curiosity Kit. She wanted my brother, who was three years old at the time, and me to have something to occupy us while we were alone. When we opened the box, we were amazed to see the cardboard, engine parts, and the things we could do – such as burglar alarms, doorbells, magic hats, flashlights, night lights, vacuum cleaners, and confetti – with the easy and safe attachment parts.
My 3-year-old brother was able to recognize all the pieces and even began trying new things on his own. After I installed the Twin STEM application to make the activities better, it opened up a completely different world to us. We watched the adventures section with my brother, got to know the steam engines, and did pressure experiments. With the experiments we did with my brother, the adventures we completed, and the trivia questions, we won many coins as rewards and received great rewards such as Mindstorm and Lego Technic with coins. My mother was sent monthly reports by Twin and was then able to tell me which areas we were prone to. Additionally, I learned a lot from the forums on the application and the shares of other Twinners, and began to follow people who made creative and interesting shares.
Most importantly, I had the opportunity to learn about sustainability, climate change, and technological solutions through visual and interactive explanations. As a result, the comments I made in the courses, the ideas, and projects I produced in the STEM courses started to make a difference. My mom also bought us the Twin Coding Kit and the Robotic Art Kit. I was ecstatic to hear from my mother that when we bought one of the Twin boxes, one Twin box was sent to children who couldn’t receive it. I told all my friends and teachers about this practice.
Twin kits and apps became much more to me than just a game; it was a place where we could learn, experience, discover, and produce, so that we could build a sustainable future for everyone in our world. Finally, I had figured out where to start in order to do something about our future.
With the inspiration and equipment I got from Twin, my biggest dream when I grow up; I want to work with a team at MIT that generates innovative ideas for our future, and as a role model woman, I want to be able to offer opportunities that will lead to a lot of young people in this process.
Thank you Twin, for preparing us for a better future by introducing science, technology and sustainability concepts to children worldwide.
