Yeshayahu Leibowitz and Emmanuel Levinas were amongst the two leading Jewish thinkers to have emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. This book puts in dialogue these two titanic ...figures, particularly within the frameworks of Zionism, political theology, and European totalitarianism.
A celebrated Israeli author explores the roots of the
divide between religion and secularism in Israel today, and offers
a path to bridging the divide Zionism began as a movement
full of ...contradictions, between a pull to the past and a desire to
forge a new future. Israel has become a place of fragmentation,
between those who sanctify religious tradition and those who wish
to escape its grasp. Now, a new middle ground is emerging between
religious and secular Jews who want to engage with their
heritage-without being restricted by it or losing it completely. In
this incisive book, acclaimed author Micah Goodman explores Israeli
Judaism and the conflict between religion and secularism, one of
the major causes of political polarization throughout the world.
Revisiting traditional religious sources and seminal works of
secularism, he reveals that each contains an openness to learn from
the other's messages. Goodman challenges both orthodoxies,
proposing a new approach to bridge the divide between religion and
secularism and pave a path toward healing a society torn asunder by
extremism.
A controversial examination of the internal Israeli debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a best-selling Israeli authorSince the Six-Day War, Israelis have been entrenched in a national ...debate over whether to keep the land they conquered or to return some, if not all, of the territories to Palestinians. In a balanced and insightful analysis, Micah Goodman deftly sheds light on the ideas that have shaped Israelis' thinking on both sides of the debate, and among secular and religious Jews about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Contrary to opinions that dominate the discussion, he shows that the paradox of Israeli political discourse is that both sides are right in what they affirm-and wrong in what they deny. Although he concludes that the conflict cannot be solved, Goodman is far from a pessimist and explores how instead it can be reduced in scope and danger through limited, practical steps. Through philosophical critique and political analysis, Goodman builds a creative, compelling case for pragmatism in a dispute where a comprehensive solution seems impossible.
Yeshayahu Leibowitz and Emmanuel Levinas were amongst the two
leading Jewish thinkers to have emerged in the second half of the
twentieth century. This book puts in dialogue these two titanic
...figures, particularly within the framework of their respective
critiques of political theology, European totalitarianism, as well
as their doctrinal approaches to the Zionist enterprise. This work
constitutes a lens through which to reappraise some of the chief
questions of contemporary Jewish identity, including the Holocaust,
the State of Israel, Diaspora Jewry, modernity and traditionalism,
as well as continuity and change.
This study presents 3 case studies that examine the processes involved in the professional growth of physics teacher-leaders (TLs) in a national network of professional learning communities (PLCs). ...This program has been operating since 2012, using a “Fan Model” where the TLs participate in a PLC (TL-PLC) led by a team from the Weizmann Institute of Science, while they simultaneously teach in high school and lead nationwide regional PLCs of physics teachers. The context of the study was inquiry-based laboratories, which are aimed at integrating aspects of authentic research into the high-school physics laboratory. The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (Clarke and Hollingsworth, Teaching and Teacher Education, 18:947–967, 2002) was extended, adjusted to physics TLs, and used to study the processes involved in the growth of the 3 case studies within different aspects of their practice. Changes in their knowledge, attitudes, and practice, as well as the factors that motivated, contributed to, or inhibited their professional growth, were studied over the course of 3 years. Individual growth pathways were found in each case, as well as similar patterns for all 3. The TL-PLC served as an interactive and supportive learning environment, and the mechanisms of “Enactment” and “Reflection” promoted changes in the TLs’ knowledge, attitudes, and practice. Addressing challenges such as students’ difficulties as well as PLC teachers’ motivation and attitudes enhanced the TLs’ growth as teachers and as PLC leaders. The findings suggest that PLC programs can serve as an effective framework for the professional growth of TLs, as well as for promoting reform initiatives in science education.
This paper describes a general model for skills instruction and its implementation through the program “Scientific Communication” for acquiring learning skills. The model is characterized by ...modularity, explicit instruction, spiral integration into contents, practice in various contexts, and implementation in performance tasks. It requires flexible planning and implementation by the teachers. The study investigated how science teachers implemented this model for a two-year period. Results show that they coped with this task by customizing the program; they underwent a positive change in perceptions about skills instruction, instructional models, using instructional materials, influence and involvement in school and beyond.
This study explores the impact of ‘Scientific Communication’ (SC) skills instruction on students’ performances in scientific literacy assessment tasks. We present a general model for skills ...instruction, characterized by explicit and spiral instruction, integration into content learning, practice in several scientific topics, and application of performance tasks. The model was applied through an instructional program that focuses on the following learning skills: information retrieval, scientific reading and writing, listening and observing, data representation, and knowledge presentation. Throughout the 7th–8th grades, 160 students learned the whole program or one of its components:
structured instruction
(SI) of SC skills, or
performance tasks
(PT). A comparison group of 42 students did not receive instruction of SC skills. Students’ performances were assessed through a questionnaire and a complex task that measured students’ scientific content knowledge, SC skills, and the quality of the final products. Results indicated that students who learned the whole program or one of its components achieved higher scores in all categories than the comparison group students. High achievers can benefit from just one component of the program: either structured instruction (SI) or learning from practice (PT). However, they can hardly acquire SC skills spontaneously. Low and average achievers require both components of the SC program to improve their performances. Results show that without planned intervention, the spontaneous attainment of SC skills occurs only to a limited extent. Systematic teaching of skills can make a significant difference. The explicit instruction of skills integrated into scientific topics, the opportunities to implement the skills in different contexts, the role of performance tasks as ‘assessment for learning’—all these features are important and necessary for improving students’ scientific literacy. Our general model of skills instruction can be applied to the instruction of other high-order skills. Its application can lead to the realization of the central goal of science education: literate students possessing scientific knowledge.
Misconceptions among students studying physics have been widely reported in the research literature. Many teachers are not acquainted with this literature. Moreover, many of them claim that only weak ...students have misconceptions. This paper reports on an online activity focusing on misconceptions of students regarding Newton's 3rd Law, that is being carried out through the website of the National Center of Physics Teachers. The aims of the activity are: (1) To convince the teachers that sometimes difficulties in understanding concepts do not stem from the inability of certain students to understand the concept, but rather because of misconceptions in physics. (2) To present the teachers with the findings of studies on physics instruction that deal with the concepts under discussion. (3) To convince the teachers to try out new, innovative teaching strategies.
Many teachers would agree that not all their A-level students appreciate the beauty of physics or enjoy solving complex problems. In this article, we describe a photo-contest activity aimed at ...narrowing the gap between physics and students. The photo contest, involving both students and teachers, is guided by the National Center of Physics Teachers in Israel. Students were requested to photograph a natural or contrived phenomenon, explain it using physical concepts and principles, present it to their classmates and finally submit the photographs to be judged by other students, teachers and a central committee consisting of experts, photographers and physicists. Seven teachers whose students were involved in the photo contest were interviewed. Teachers reported that, although only a few students presented their photos to the contest, many others were involved in various stages of the contest. The teachers were surprised to discover that the participating students were not necessarily the traditional high-achievers. All the teachers interviewed integrated the photographs into their regular physics lessons.
