The National Center for Chemistry Teachers

Leading team:

• Dr. Debora Ivana Marchak Ben Hamo, (Didi)
• Prof. Ron Blonder

Project team:

• Vered Adler
• Sara Akons
• Ziva Bar-Dov
• Hagit Levy
• Dr. Shelly Livne
• Dr. Rachel Mamlok-Naaman
• Dr. Malka Yayon

Secretariat and Administration:

Brief

The primary goals of the National Center for Chemistry Teachers are to address the professional development needs of chemistry teachers, and carry out various ad hoc tasks at the request of the chemistry supervision of the Ministry of Education.
The center’s activities therefore focus on the following:

• Encouraging the professional development of teachers via various workshops, including the implementation of new developments from the center, providing experience in building rubrics for new materials, and the integration of art in the teaching of chemistry;
• Developing and maintaining of the center’s website and Facebook page;
• Planning annual conferences;
• Developing learning materials;
• Publishing the online edition of the chemistry teachers’ journal “Al-Chimia”;
• Promoting the study of chemistry through various motivational projects, such as the continued endorsement of “chemical escape rooms”, initiatives, or the creation of puzzles to be integrated into classes;
• Providing customized instructions to promote student understanding of chemistry, and to address difficulties introduced during the teaching and learning process.

The activities promoted by the National Center for Chemistry Teachers are based on continuous research, conducted over decades, on the professional development of chemistry teachers.