Since 2016, the “Preschool Teaching Material Development and Productivity Workshop” has been serving students in the field in developing the professional competencies of teacher candidates in various courses, particularly “Material Development” and “Productivity and Its Development”.
Educational tools and materials play an active role in the developmental areas of the preschool period and are an important part of teaching. Within the framework of its vision and mission, the Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University Division of Preschool Teaching has not only been aware of the importance of this issue but has taken action and established Turkey’s best-equipped Preschool Workshop.
In this workshop, students develop materials and tools that contribute to motor development, cognitive development, sensory development and the development of self-care skills. After making materials and tools by combining waste materials with simple production methods, teacher candidates produce professional tools used in the profession with the help of different materials and the equipment and production machines available in the workshop. In this way, the value and dimensions of production are instilled in teacher candidates, their creative imagination in their field develops, and they gain the ability to produce more effective materials within their own means when necessary.
Another professional quality that teacher candidates need to develop in all teaching fields is creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Thanks to the facilities in the preschool teaching workshop, the ground is prepared for developing the knowledge and experience that will contribute to the formation of productivity skills closely related to the convergent dimension of creativity and to divergent thinking.
The equipment and facilities in the Preschool Teaching Material Development and Productivity Workshop are as follows:
Material cabinets and workbenches
Consumables
Electric and manual hand tools
Benchtop woodworking machines
Technological devices that contribute to student work and are used in developing educational materials within the framework of academic studies
Cuteng 100W laser cutter and engraving machine
Raise N2 3D printer
Poysan EL 3040 Benchtop CNC Router