Alpha Program
As gifted students, you have just been given the keys to our most innovative laboratories. Over the next three years, you will be part of discoveries that could change humanity.
What is the universe made of? What triggers adolescence? And what's the deal with primary numbers? There are questions that even the greatest minds living today cannot answer – but maybe you can!
The gifted students participating in the Alpha Program choose the topics they find most interesting for research. Students are granted access to the Weizmann Institute’s advanced laboratories, where they can brainstorm with their peers and mentors, leading lecturers, and top researchers.
Alpha students also enjoy fun activities outside the labs, including summer camp at the Laub Youth Village on campus and elsewhere around Israel.
Audience:
Gifted and outstanding 9th-grade students who love science and are about to start 10th grade.
Time:
Registration will take place between Nov. 17, 2019, and Jan. 18, 2020. An orientation meeting for students and their parents will be held on Jan. 9, 2020, at 17:00. Summer camp runs from June 21-July 3, 2020. Each year includes four, two-day meetings – two during school vacations and two in lieu of school days (coordinated with schools).
Place:
The Davidson Institute of Science Education, south campus, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot.
How:
Registration will take place between Nov. 17, 2019, and Jan. 18, 2020 via the national Alpha website. Select the Weizmann Institute of Science and your preferred institute. Applicants must include a recommendation from school and the report card for either the first semester of 9th grade or end of year report card for the 8th grade. Applicants will be required to submit a personal essay at a later date. Suitable applicants will be asked to undergo the Davidson Institute's screening process, including by the National Institute for Testing and Evaluation, a scientific knowledge evaluation, and a personal interview.
More about the program
The program spans two years and caters to high school students, as follows:
Ninth grade: Alpha Program participants take their first steps into the world of scientific research as part of a two-week summer camp, slated to take place from June 21-July 3, 2020. There, participants launch their personal research project, mentored by research students. These projects are based on one of the contemporary research topics currently studied at the Weizmann Institute. At the end of the year, the students are asked to choose the subject of their personal research project.
Tenth grade: Congratulations – your research project is on its way! During the first year of research, Alpha participants work on their project with a mentor and attend scientific lectures, expert panels, conferences, and a host of social activities. A two-week summer camp at our youth village takes place at the end of the year, during which students carry out three mini-research projects in physics, chemistry, and biology, each on different topics than the one chosen as their main research project. The exercise seeks to underscore the importance of developing team research skills and writing a report as a group.
Eleventh grade: During the exciting second and final year of the program, participants continue with their discoveries and finalize the written paper on their projects. Once completed, the students present their projects at a scientific symposium held on the Davidson Institute on the Weizmann Institute's campus, which scientists and educators attend. The research project grants Alpha Program participants five matriculation points.
Twelve-graders attend activities hosted by the Davidson Institute, after which they can join the Ascola Program at the Future Scientists Center.
For more information, visit the Hebrew site.
