Turkish education students will share their culture with students in Iowa as they learn about American education.

Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, will send 30 students to Iowa in January as part of the Turkish Student Teacher Internship Project. The project is funded by a $200,000 grant awarded to the ISU College of Education by the State Department.

While in Iowa, the interns will student teach in Iowa middle and high schools alongside teachers who also serve as mentors to the students, said Cathy Curtis, alumni officer for the College of Education.

“It’s been an excellent program from the standpoint that the Turkish students learn all about American education, and American students learn about Turkish culture and Turkish views on education,” Curtis said.

Benhur Oral, graduate student in curriculum and instruction and a participant in the program, said Iowa schools weren’t what he expected. When he came to America, Oral said, he anticipated problems with classroom management because of the media’s portrayal of gangs and school violence. He expected to see police walking around the schools and students being screened through security before entering the buildings.

“Students were really well-behaved,” Oral said. “There were no troublemakers at all, so that was interesting.”

Oral said the education systems in the two countries are similar, although there are a number of differences.

Although both countries have standardized curriculum to a point, the Turkish system is nationalized, while the states control curriculum more than the federal government does in the United States.

When in the classrooms, the Turkish interns take full responsibility for teaching, said Dale Niederhauser, assistant professor for the Center for Technology in Learning and Teaching. Interns have completed a five-year teacher preparation program and hold undergraduate degrees in various content areas like math, biology, history, English language and literature or Turkish studies.

Though he did gain educational experience, Oral said, personal development was a bigger benefit from participating in the internship.

“You become more world-oriented. You just grow out of your ethnocentric beliefs and ideas; you see things in a larger context,” he said.

An experience like this teaches people about themselves, Oral said.

They learn about their strengths, weaknesses and their ability to adapt to a new environment. They also start questioning biases and prejudices.

Along with teaching, students explore cultural differences. Each Turkish intern is paired with a student from a multicultural education class to create a “culture project,” Niederhauser said. Past groups have studied fast food, skateboarding, in-line skating and hip-hop music, he said.

“This project allows the ISU students and the Turkish interns to interact with each other and many develop friendships that go well beyond the project,” Niederhauser said.

The culture projects will be presented at the Turkish Student Day festivities in March. The day allows members of the ISU community to speak with the interns, discuss the projects and experience Turkish culture through food, song and dance, Niederhauser said.