Creative Thinking Program
GOAL: To arouse children’s natural curiosity and encourage them to draw their own conclusions
IMPACT: In 2015:
·38 preschool classes
·970 children
· 33 teachers, 750 parents, and siblings
PARTNERS: The Holon Municipality the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, the Henrietta Szold Institute, The Bney Brak municipality
RESEARCH: conducted by the Szold Institute in Jerusalem, Israel’s National Institute for Research in the Behavioral Sciences
Faculty
Director: Osnat Berger, B.A. Jewish History and Education
Workshops for teachers: Ofra Ehlich – Certified Teacher, Actor
C.T. Facilitators: Osnat Berger – B.A Jewish History and Education
Yardena Davidesco – B.A. in Liberal Arts, University of Bar Illan
The Creative Thinking Program is Achiya’s newest program, implemented in September, 2012. The CT program presently encompasses 25 preschool classes in the city of Holon and reaches some 700 children between the ages of 3 to 6.
What is the CT Program? Designed by Professor Gideon Carmi of Hebrew University, Jerusalem, the program is designed to expose preschool children in a fun and experiential way to the amazing world of nature, with emphasis on arousing the children’s natural curiosity and encouraging independent thinking.
Trained CT Facilitators work with the children on a biweekly basis, exploring different aspects of nature, such as gravity, proportion, energy, mass, gravity, weight etc. Together with the CT Facilitator, the children create individual projects to take home with them.
Preschool teachers attend workshops to learn how to implement the CT curriculum in the classrooms. Parents have the option of attending workshops that explain the Program’s goals and show the parents how they can work together with the teachers to implement the program at home and encourage their children’s natural curiosity.
The CT Program is presently being run as a three year pilot program. Dr. Idit Manny Ikan and Ravit Efrati of the Henrietta Szold Institute, Israel’s National Institute for Research in the Behavioral Sciences are accompanying the pilot to investigate practical methods of implementing the program in other settings as well as conducting periodic evaluation of the program’s impact on the children, teachers and community.
The CT Program is operated in partnership with the Municipality of Holon and the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
“I was astounded to hear four year old children transfer the scientific concept to another incident.”
“The children were so excited about the activity that they continued talking about it among themselves, without my intervention.”
On September 10, 2014, Edith Manny-Ikan gave a presentation of her research findings to the representatives of the Van Leer Foundation:
