Active Science for Excelling Students
Just before the end of elementary school, let your top students experience a real-life laboratory
The Active Science for Excellence (ASE) program was developed by the Davidson Institute of Science Education team, based on the belief that science education can advance and enrich elementary-school students. The active science – or “hands on” – approach provides activities in which scientific concepts and principles are learned through live demonstration, such as lab activities and practical experiments. ASE takes this concept to the next level, offering “Active Science” – i.e., practicing science while focusing on one concept at a time, with the purpose of assimilating it through the construction of a product that demonstrates a phenomenon and the concept behind it. During the program, participants will acquire a variety of research-related skills, such as team work, quantification, investigation, and critical learning and thinking.
More about the program
Meetings are held in groups of up to 20 participants and are led by a professional instructor from the fields of natural sciences and engineering. The instructors, trained according to the scientific-educational spirit of the program, are guided and supported by the faculty of the Davidson Institute of Science Education. The activity is comprised of a short theoretical part, combining discussion and demonstration, and a practical part, in which the students build a product or a model illustrating the scientific or technological principle being taught. In each meeting, we will emphasize the connection of the scientific topic to everyday life. The program’s website includes all the study material, together with enrichment materials, a message board, puzzles, and research exercises that complement the topics discussed during the meetings.
During the last part of the program, students will develop a personal project aimed at summarizing the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the year. In the 5th grade, students will present the story and solution to the mystery discussed throughout the year. In 6th grade, students will plan, design, and build a model or a product.
The projects will be presented in a concluding event at the end of the year, during which participants will be granted a certificate of participation from the Davidson Institute of Science Education, the Weizmann Institute’s education arm.
For further information, visit at the Hebrew site.