8th Graders Design Collaborative STEM and Rabbinics Project

Integrating the values of tikkun olam, 8th grade students have been working on a collaborative project with rabbinics and STEM. While students are studying halacha in their rabbinics classes, they were challenged in the STEM lab to design solutions that could help people with disabilities fulfill certain mitzvot. How can we help the deaf fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the shofar? How can we help the blind fulfill the mitzvah of reading Torah? Starting with questions like these, students researched how the rabbis defined Jewish law surrounding certain mitzvot and participated in activities to understand and empathize with these problems. Then they brainstormed and created a design plan for their idea, built a prototype or model, and learned how to give an elevator pitch.