Gentle, in a lot of its kinds, was the theme of a particular Chanukah program held simply earlier than the beginning of the vacation at Atlanta’s Marcus Jewish Neighborhood Middle in Dunwoody. The kids’s program “The Science of Gentle” has explored not solely the sunshine produced by candles or oil of the Condukah menorah, but in addition neons, lasers, LEDs, incandescent bulbs, and even bioluminescence produced by residing issues.
The initiative was the second in a sequence of packages at MJCCA in experiential studying created by Kelly Cohen, who runs this system that kicked off with a Sukkot celebration in October.
Georgia Tech Analysis Institute STEM outreach chief Jack Wooden reveals the various methods mild facilitates different applied sciences.
Attendees got Chanukah candle containers with the middle’s Science of Gentle emblem imprinted and donut holes full of jelly and custard. Everybody was additionally given a colourful booklet that talked in regards to the 10 mild kinds highlighted on the occasion and the blessing of the Chanukah candles.
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Cohen envisioned the afternoon program as a technique to increase younger individuals’s understanding of the Jewish competition of sunshine.
“We needed to offer youngsters a mind-set in regards to the holidays that targeted on the necessities,” Cohen stated. “Chanukah is a vacation about mild, and we tried to consider how we may give individuals a hands-on expertise of what’s on the coronary heart of this vacation.”
Amy Helman-Darley is the director of a brand new program referred to as Nurture, which goals to assist dad and mom and preschoolers.
One of many organizations collaborating within the afternoon was Nurture, began by Davis Academy, the Jewish day college in Dunwoody. Entails preschoolers and their dad and mom in weekend studying alternatives. Amy Helman-Darley, program supervisor at MJCCA, has helped teenagers create “squishy circuits” with Play-Doh and battery-powered circuits that mild up when assembled. Kids additionally had the chance to discover the sunshine in nature and the shadows that mild creates because it strikes throughout the sky day-after-day.
The MJCCA occasion was additionally a possibility to enroll dad and mom in Nurture, which is open to your complete group. Final month, the group hosted a night creator discuss and signing day for “Good Inside: A Information to Being the Guardian You Wish to Be” in partnership with the MJCCA E book Pageant. This system attracted greater than 500 dad and mom to listen to about new approaches to parenting methods.
For program director Helman-Darley, the Chanukah program was a technique to encourage what he described as preschoolers’ innate curiosity in regards to the world round them.
“There’s a curiosity that comes from their age. They’re all the time keen to discover and do issues that will not work. Generally squishy circuits do not work however then they preserve attempting. After which, lastly, it lights up. There’s the thrill of attempting and attempting once more till one thing works. And I feel that is the fantastic thing about being younger.”
MJCCA’s Science of Gentle program happened earlier than the primary Chanukah candle was lit.
For older youngsters, there was a high-tech exhibit from the Georgia Tech Analysis Institute exhibiting the various methods mild facilitates different applied sciences like fiber optic tagging that enriches the web.
There have been three cameras hooked up to a big video display that supplied ultraviolet mild pictures, thermal infrared mild pictures, and visual mild pictures. Senior researcher Jack Wooden, who works within the institute’s know-how help program, talked about the important thing to barcode know-how utilized in retail and supermarkets, and the way it may be analyzed in accordance with the kind of spectrum tubes full of varied gases. the sunshine they provide.
Wooden’s work is graciously funded by the Georgia state STEM program, which inspires college students to study science, know-how, engineering, and math. Whereas it’s hoped that some college students will select a profession in these studying areas, the objective is broader.
“We search to create really essential thinkers in order that college students can develop as much as be adults who respect science and what know-how has given us. But in addition to ask a great query and perceive the sources of data and whether or not they’re correct,” Wooden stated.
The afternoon concluded with the illumination of the MJCCA’s menorah on the primary night time of Chanukah, one other instance of experiential studying and the transmission of spiritual values in Judaism, as Cohen factors out.
“Every thing we do provides contributors the chance to consider and relate to mild otherwise. This can be a season of miracles. And I feel our afternoon on the Science of Gentle is a really good manner to consider this vacation.
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