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In the research, the effect of engineering design-based STEM activities on the school belonging to seventh-grade refugee students was examined. A mixed-method was used in the research. The research sample consists of 32 Syrian refugee students studying in the 7th grade in the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. The study lasted for ten weeks, with two lessons per week. In addition, the "School Attachment Scale for Children and Adolescents" was used as a quantitative data collection tool. On the other hand, qualitative data collection tools were used as "STEM Education Reflective Diary Form, STEM Education Interview Form, and Teacher Interview Form," which were prepared based on quantitative scale items. Statistical methods were used to analyze the quantitative data obtained in the research, and content analysis was used in the qualitative data analysis. The quantitative data showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores. As a result, It was concluded that the engineering design-based STEM activities carried out contributed positively to the individual and social development of Syrian refugee students; their positive attitudes towards the lesson and the teacher impacted their sense of belonging to the school.

Amik Lake or, historically, Lake of Antioch, was a large freshwater body in the lower Orontes River basin (Hatay Province, Turkey) that was drained in the 1940s–1970s. Several endemic animal species were described from this lake, including the freshwater mussel Anodonta pseudodopsis Locard, 1883 (Bivalvia: Unionidae) characterized by a large rounded shell covered by a peculiar yellow or yellowish-brown periostracum. Molecular analyses of topotypes of this nominal taxon collected from the former lake's tributaries in the Amik Plain indicate that it is an intra-specific lineage of the widespread Anodonta anatina (Linnaeus, 1758) based on the mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA , and the nuclear 28S rRNA gene fragments. Geometric morphometric analyses using the lectotype and topotypes of Anodonta pseudodopsis support our DNA-based hypothesis on the status of this nominal taxon. A new synonymy is provided as follows: Anodonta anatina = Anodonta pseudodopsis syn. nov. The syntype of Anodonta pseudodopsis SMF 5129 "See von Antiochia" (Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt, Germany) is designated here to be the lectotype of this nominal taxon. Finally, we conclude that Anodonta anatina range covers the Orontes River basin in Turkey and Syria and the Nahr al-Kabir al-Shamali River in the Latakia Governorate of Syria. This intraspecific lineage of Anodonta anatina and other freshwater mussels of the Middle East are highly threatened due to multiple anthropogenic impacts and must be a focus of international conservation efforts. The Karasu River in eastern Turkey hosts viable populations of all freshwater mussel species of the Orontes's fauna and can be considered one of the most important water bodies for the conservation of these imperiled animals in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]