Jun 18, 2024

CAJE’s 7th Annual South Florida Jewish Day School Robotics Festival Advances Innovation in Education

The 7th Annual South Florida Jewish Day School Robotics Festival, which took place in May, engaged 215 students from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in a dynamic competition advancing innovation and cooperation in education. The event, presented by Federation agency The Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE), took place at the Scheck Hillel Community School. Twenty teams comprising students from 13 schools competed in robotics challenges that showcased a school year’s worth of learning and achievement.

CAJE’s Robotics Program was introduced in 2016 as a project of the Miami-Yerucham Partnership when third-grade educators from Hebrew Academy (RASG), Lehrman Community Day School and Scheck Hillel Community school were trained by professionals from the Science Center in Yerucham, Federation’s Partnership2Gether city in southern Israel. This resulted in the creation of a robotics curriculum in the participating schools that initiated student space mission challenges and utilized Lego EV3 software and Space Challenge Sets. It also included a robotics competition in which teens from the Yerucham robotics team visited Miami to assist in the training and the culminating robotics event.

Adding to the program’s success has been the efforts of Ilana Traub , the local coach for the Miami educators. Traub participates in training the program’s teachers as well as planning and scheduling the Robotics Festival. Said Patricia Martinez of Yeshiva Elementary School, “CAJE’s robotics program has changed our curriculum and life in our school tremendously. Not only do the students learn to work together but they also learn coding, math and problem solving while having fun!”

To learn more about The Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education and how it is fostering Jewish learning and leadership in Miami, click here.