The Wonders of Matter

Tenth-graders from the Ar’ara village in the Negev in the south of Israel recently spent a special “science day” in the laboratories of the Davidson Institute of Science Education. They were given the opportunity to experience the wonders of matter – by conducting independent experiments, watching glass-blowing demonstrations and listening to a talk on cutting-edge laser research given by postdoctoral student Dr. Ali Abo-Riziq.

 

The science day took place within the framework of the NEHMAD project (a Hebrew acronym meaning “nice” that stands for Advanced Inquiry Lab Activities, Davidson), headed by Dr. Hannah Margel. The project brings students and teachers from all over Israel to the Institute’s advanced teaching laboratories; it allows them to conduct experiments that cannot be performed in their schools and get a taste of what’s happening at the forefront of modern science by directly experiencing advanced scientific methods in chemistry, biology, physics and environmental research. The students also visited other sites at the Weizmann Institute, including the Clore Garden of Science, the Weizmann House and various research labs.