On Wednesday, 20 June 2012 Jewish
and Arab children and their families, from the Jewish neighborhood of Kiryat HaYovel
and the Arab neighborhood of Umm Tuba, came to the Bloomfield Science
Museum for the
end-of-the-year party. This event summed up an entire year of Jewish and Arab
children meeting together and learning about the universal language of science,
thanks to the support of the Wingate Charitable Trust of the UK.
In the 2011 – 2012 school year, some
30 5th and 6th grade children participated in the
program, 30 from each school, accompanied by one of the school's teachers. At
each meeting throughout the year the children learned about a scientific
concept, while also getting to know each other, and each other's language and
culture.
At the party they made their own ice
cream, toured the Science
Museum's exhibits and
enjoyed a performance of Dr. Molecule, who makes science entertaining.
"[This project] was a huge success," said Muhammad the accompanying
teacher from Umm Tuba. "The kids
are talking about this club everywhere – they talk about it at home, in school,
in the schoolyard, in the streets. They talk about it to the principal, to
their parents. It made a significant difference in my group. I'd be very happy
to have another project like this, it makes the children happy and gets them
thinking."