Offering displaced parents and children an outlet in a time of despair and uncertainty, professional educators from Weizmann’s Davidson Institute have been traveling all over Israel to lead science activities and workshops.
As missiles and terrorist actions continue to be part of everyday life in Israel, the Davidson Institute has partnered with various municipalities, schools, and organizations throughout the country who are trying to establish a reliable daily routine, full of stimulating and positive activities, for displaced children.
The Davidson Institute offers year-round programs and serves as the science education arm of the Weizmann Institute. Its STEM programs are wide-ranging, designed for gifted students, at-risk youth, and minorities from every sector of Israeli society – including Arab, ultra-Orthodox, Ethiopian citizens, and Israel’s geographically remote and economically disadvantaged communities.
Davidson’s hybrid-learning endeavors began as iScience about five years ago, then continued to evolve when the “Stuck at Home” program was created during the pandemic. Since October 7, the Davidson Institute has adapted resources and pivoted their focus to meet the needs of Israeli children most affected by the ongoing war.
Some Davidson educators are conducting science workshops with younger children in shelters or schools. Other activities are conducted via Zoom, and they are finding ways to adjust curriculum for broader audiences. For those being housed temporarily in hotels near the Dead Sea, Davidson has engaged children in a number of science activities, including taking families on a nighttime tour of the stars.
While developing and implementing dozens of workshops, Davidson educators continue to deal with their own trauma and grief as a result of the October 7 attacks and ensuing war. Everyone in Israel – including the entire Weizmann community – has been affected and the need for emotional and professional support is greater than ever.
Dr. Marcel Frailich Kaplun, from the Department of Science Teaching, was murdered in the terrorist attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, and her spouse is still missing. Two Davidson Institute graduates were killed in action. A large number of students and staff members have entered military service or have close family members who have been deployed. Many continue to mourn the deaths of friends and family members while others have loved ones in the towns that were attacked. Emotional trauma is deep and widespread leaving many children scared, confused, and apprehensive about the future.
In keeping with Institute Founder Chaim Weizmann’s legacy, a cornerstone value of the Institute is to inspire children and youth to embrace science as a way of understanding our world and developing a pattern of thinking that helps guide them through life.
Through times of prosperity, pandemic, peace, and war, the Davidson Institute remains committed to Israel’s children – nurturing young minds and ensuring that science is the nation’s greatest gift to the rest of the world for generations to come.
“I feel sure that science will bring to this land both peace and a renewal of its youth, creating here the springs of a new spiritual and material life.”
– Chaim Weizmann, 1946
