Boca Jewish academy students create hands-on exhibit to learn about life in Israel

Skiing in the Golan, growing oranges and grapes in the Galilee, scuba diving in Eilat, and slipping notes between the stones of the WesternWall.

Donna Klein Jewish Academy lower school students recently got a look at modern-day Israel from an interactive exhibit created by the Boca Raton day school’s sixthgraders.

More than 80 students separated into teams to create 10 exhibits depicting life in Israel in preparation for their eighth-grade trip in two years. Each exhibit had detailed information and a code that students could read with their smartphones and match with a destination on a passport.

“I think this is the ultimate teaching and learning experience for us and the students,” said Amer Randel, middle school Jewish studies teacher.

Randel and colleague Sammy Lontok came up with the idea for an interactive exhibit about 12 years ago. Donna Klein’s sixth-graders have been building the exhibits for 10 years.

“We created this really from nothing,” Randel said, explaining that the teachers were inspired by the EpcotWorld Showcase.

Each exhibit in “Israel for Real” is “kid generated,” Randel said. “The decision making is done by the students. It’s all about innovation-guided student leadership.”

William Levenson, 12, of Parkland, who worked on the Eilat exhibit, said, “It took a week and a lot of teamwork and hard work. We had fun. It was a great learning experience.”

Jessica Markman, 12, of Boynton Beach, added, “It was an entire group effort. We all taught each other new stuff.”

Each student had a job and, when completed, would help other students, said Eitan Pessah, 12, ofWest Boca, who worked on the Haifa exhibit. Pessah said hewas “impressed by the history and religious diversity” in Haifa.

Yaffa Englander, 11, of Boca Raton, worked on the Jerusalem exhibit, which touched on the city’s history.

“I didn’t know about the Armenian Quarter before,” she said.

Randel explained that at the time of the Armenian genocide about 100 years ago, some Armenians found refuge in Israel and lived in Old Jerusalem.