Israeli Nobel laureates take part in educational museum project

The Education Ministry is hoping to take advantage of Israel’s large number of Nobel science prize winners with a new science education program set to be launched this year that aims to teach students through activities and experimentation at science museums.

Israeli school children head back to the classroom on Monday, Aug. 27, and in the first, pilot stage, around 400 schools will participate in the program, which aims to impart the importance of science and is being run in cooperation with Israeli Nobel Prize laureates and science museums throughout the country. The program will allow elementary and middle school students to participate at museums in a series of scientific research and experimentation activities based on the school curriculum. Students will have preparatory activities in their classrooms before their museum visits, take part in meetings and activities at the museums, and carry out summation activities after the visits.

The Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem has prepared a special program to enrich science and technology studies that are part of the curriculum. Eighth grade students, who study physical sciences and concepts such as interaction, forces and motion, will be able to learn about the laws of physics through the museum's "Loop at Luna Park" exhibition, which will be turned into an "open laboratory" for students, allowing them to learn through active exhibits representing amusement park rides. Students will encounter Newton's laws of motion through personal experiences, and conduct guided experiments in small groups.

For fourth grade students, the museum has prepared a program called "Touching Water" that will enable students to view shallow pools of water containing models of ancient water pumping, transfer and delivery systems in Jerusalem, alongside modern technologies based on the developments of Israeli water companies. The students will also encounter interactive exhibits that explain Israel's sources of water.