Israel
STEM Experience
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ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
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ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
STEM + ISRAEL = BIALIK SUCCESS For fifteen students at Bialik, what began as a STEM competition in Israel became a powerful, eye-opening, unforgettable experience. The students participated in a groundbreaking program that combined Bialik’s focus on STEM education with its commitment to Israel. The teens spent four months creating a prototype product designed to impact the environment by saving energy. Then, they travelled to Israel to compete in a Dragon’s Den-style program alongside a team of Israeli teens from the Gvanim School in the Eilat region.
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During a week of exciting activities with the Israeli group, competitors became friends. As soon as they landed in Israel, the bonding began. They enjoyed team-building activities, including a daring ropes course at a camel ranch. The Bialik students toured, learned, played, and sometimes just hung out with the Israeli teens and got to know their friends better.
The bonding continued over Shabbat as Bialik students were welcomed into the homes of the Israeli participants and host families. Not surprisingly, for many of the kids from Bialik, the authentic Israel experience was the most memorable part of the trip. As Ryan said, “We got closer with the Israeli kids; it was fun to be with them; we sat on the beach and talked to them and got to know them.�
Half way around the world, they sing the same Shabbat songs and have the same traditions we do at home. samantha
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ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
This was also an opportunity to have years of classroom learning spring to life. Cooper summed it
up best when he said, “We learn about Israel in school, but to finally learn first-hand and live with an Israeli family, it comes full circle.” They also gained an appreciation for the differences and similarities between their lives and those of their new-found friends. On the one hand, Maddy described, “Shabbat is so different, everything closes, people go to the beach and spend time with family,” while Samantha was surprised to find that, “Half way around the world, they sing the same Shabbat songs and have the same traditions we do at home.” For some, just being in Israel overshadowed everything else. Josh reflected, “This was my first time in Israel. I learn Hebrew at school but I’ve never actually seen Hebrew outside of Bialik. In Israel it’s on street signs and restaurants. It was fascinating to see.” ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
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SUSTAINABILITY Travelling together, the Bialik students and the Israeli teens explored issues of sustainability as they visited a number of sites and attractions.
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ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
DAY: 3
Digital Scavenger Hunt
Havdalah and the Underwater Observatory Marine Park
We enjoyed an exclusive visit to the Underwater Observatory that was opened just for our group. In addition to a “cool� scavenger hunt, students learned about underwater life, marine biology and changes to the coral reef. After the visit, they enjoyed Havdalah together at the marine park.
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DAY: 4
Learning About Eilat’s History
Eilat’s Neighbourhoods Touring one of Eilat’s first neighbourhoods, students saw some of the city’s oldest buildings, heard about how architectural design has changed so that buildings can better withstand the extreme climate, and were shown how the city is growing and changing. They visited a gallery and met with neighbourhood artists, absorbing the local culture a step further with a hands-on art activity. They were also excited to visit our twin school, Galim, and connect with their fellow students in person.
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It was great to see the juxtaposition between older and newer neighbourhoods and between the older architecture and newer apartments and pools. We could see how much things have changed. Matthew
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DAY: 4
Drinking Water from the Sea
Mekorot Desalination Site
This was another exclusive excursion because the
plant is not open to the public. The group saw how water is desalinated but, more importantly, learned about the importance of rain in Israel and how Israel has adapted to that scarcity. They were shown vegetation that can survive on only a drop of water and discovered that Eilat gets all of its water from the desalination plant. There was a unique connection because the tour was led by the father of an Israeli student who had been to Bialik last year for the bridge-building contest.
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DAY: 5
Zen Archery
FUN IN THE DESERT
On the way to visit the Kibbutzim, our students had so
much fun in the sandy dunes of Israel’s southern desert. They enjoyed trying their hand at archery, drumming and more!
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DAY: 5
Going off the Grid
Kibbutz Ketura Students discovered that it’s possible to live off the power grid. Kibbutz Ketura is cooperating with Arava Power to fully harness solar power. The teens were shown how solar panels are being used to create clean energy for entire communities and they even got to bake cookies using the sun instead of electricity or gas. Apparently the cookies were delicious!
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ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
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DAY: 5
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Kibbutz Lotan
Lotan is the home of the Center for Creative Ecology and students were introduced to a community that has been built using natural and recycled materials. They saw benches and even dwellings that were constructed using a combination of mud and debris, such as old tire pieces. Students were challenged to use their own building skills, creating an arch out of sustainable ingredients and then testing it to see if it could support their own weight. They also focused on the concept of selfsustainability and made their own pitot for lunch and assembled salads made of locally grown produce.
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ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
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DAY: 5
Design Thinking
STEM CHALLENGES
Throughout the trip, our students were engaged in a variety of hands-on STEM challenges that captured their imagination.
They were tasked with solving real-world scenarios and problems touching on sustainability and conservation.
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ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
DAY: 6
Presenting Like an Entrepreneur
The Eilat Hub
The Eilat Hub is home to many of Israel’s budding entrepreneurs, each working
on their own startups. The Hub provides workspaces, collaborative opportunities and guidance to these young businesspeople. The group met with the Hub’s CEO, Or Haviv, who gave them advice on how to develop a product pitch and provided tips for their presentation.
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DAY: 6
Relaxing with the Dolphins
Dolphin Reef
This unique site allows people to interact with dolphins in their natural habitat in the Red Sea. Using floating piers, visitors get close to dolphins maintaining their daily routine of hunting, playing, courting and socializing. The group enjoyed a seminar about dolphins and marine biology and took in the beautiful views of the water and wildlife.
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ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
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THE COMPETITION Seven teams, four from Bialik and three from Gvanim, presented and demonstrated sustainable energy prototypes.
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ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
The STEM competition was the feature event of the trip.
Seven teams, four from Bialik and three from Gvanim, presented and demonstrated sustainable energy prototypes. The projects our students presented included a motion-sensor shower head that would limit the amount of wasted water while showering, a parking app that would help drivers find specific parking spots and thereby reduce wasted gas, a hand-powered phone charger and a bicycle that could charge a portable battery. The prototypes were judged on how well these innovative technologies could help solve the world’s energy challenges. Using many of the pointers they were given at the Eilat Hub, each team made their pitch to, and answered questions from, the panel. The four judges were Naama Aloni, member of the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy administration, Or Haviv, the CEO of the Eilat Hub, Itay Shay, of the Eilot Region Ecological Unit and Roei Feinstein, a Chemistry and Physics teacher. After some deliberation, the judges provided their ranking, supported by a number of comments. Bialik teams placed second and third or, as they preferred to say, first in North America!
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The interaction with Israeli students, excursions and activities and, of course, the competition combined to create a program that was an unbridled success. It met one of Bialik’s foremost STEM education goals by giving students the right tools to ask big questions, be unafraid to learn by trial and error and to solve real-world issues. Simultaneously, it meaningfully reinforced Bialik’s mission-based goal to, “develop a lasting commitment to Jewish values, Peoplehood and the State of Israel” Perhaps, most notably, the program created a synergy by combining STEM and Israel to create an experience that was far more impactful and memorable than either would have been on their own. STEM + Israel really does define success at Bialik.
Parents said:
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Ryan loved getting to explore Israel with his friends and the independence he felt travelling without his family. We were thrilled that he was able to experience so many new challenges, from presenting ideas in front of a judging panel, to living and spending time with a host family. We’re so proud that he rose to the occasion on all fronts.
This trip was a big highlight of our Bialik experience and is something Matthew will remember for a lifetime. The excitement at the departure lounge was palpable and it seems like the momentum continued throughout the trip. He knew he was lucky to be experiencing Eilat from a completely different vantage point than a regular tourist.
–Elisa Fox
–Janie Goldstein and Stewart Moskovitch
Viewmount Branch and Administrative Office 2760 Bathurst Street Toronto, ON M6B 3A1 Phone: 416.783.3346
The Ben and Edith Himel Education Centre on the Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community Campus 180 Ilan Ramon Boulevard Vaughan, ON L6A 4P6 Phone: 905.417.3737
bialik.ca ISRAEL STEM EXPERIENCE
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