About the Institute
The Davidson Institute is the educational arm of the Weizmann Institute. It was established in 1999 on the Weizmann Institute campus in Rehovot, thanks to a generous endowment gift of William (Bill) Davidson (1922-2009) from Detroit, USA, and several other gifts for the various buildings of the Institute.
The Davidson Institute is a nonprofit public organization governed by its own Board, which includes scientists from the Weizmann Institute, and other public figures from industry, municipalities, education, media and other walks of life. The Board is chaired by Prof. Haim Harari, founder of the Davidson Institute and former president of the Weizmann Institute. The Director General of the Davidson Institute is Dr. Ariel Heimann.
The Davidson Institute is dedicated to promoting science education in Israel; bridging the gap between the general public and the frontier of science; influencing the educational system and society and spreading scientific knowledge and thinking. In doing so the Davidson Institute fulfils its commitment to Israeli society and encourages excellence, professionalism, passion for knowledge, and the relevance of science to day to day life. In addition, the Davidson Institute is a partner and leader in science education in the international arena.
The Davidson Institute specializes in the field of mathematics, natural science and technology education, exploiting knowledge and experience gained from implementing a wide variety of programs in areas such as teachers’ training, science programs for school classes, unconventional programs for teens at risk and teens with low academic achievements and popular science programs for the general public. A unique asset of the Davidson Institute is the participation in its programs of numerous active Weizmann Institute research scientists, and the involvement of members of Weizmann’s Department of Science Teaching. Science education programs for all ages give the Davidson Institute a deep perspective of Life Long Learning and a deep understanding of the needs of the various segments of Israeli society.
The various projects and activities of the Davidson Institute are conducted in two mini-campuses within the Weizmann Institute campus, as well as in numerous other locations in Israel. The Davidson campus facilities include lecture halls, laboratories and classrooms, fully equipped for scientific experiments and activities.
Activities
Activities of the Davidson Institute include:
- Programs for outstanding students in a variety of fields in science and technology
- Science programs for entire school classes
- Science programs for youth at risk and underachieving youth
- A program for equipping every child and every teacher in a classroom with laptop computers (KATOM)
- Science clubs, summer camps and delegations
- Science Competitions and Olympiads
- Public lectures in popular science
- The Clore Garden of Science Outdoor Museum
- International activities
- The annual "Open Campus" Science Festival
- Online activities and distant learning programs
- The national PERACH tutorial project
All of the activities of the Davidson Institute are executed by the five units:
the Science for All unit, the Students' Unit, the Teachers' Unit, the Technology in Education unit, and the unit of the Perach Mentoring Project.
The Davidson Institute's websites:
Main website: http://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/
Online activities: http://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/davidson-online
Distance learning: http://pegasus1.weizmann.ac.il/moodle/
