This study proposes a new learning strategy for teaching biblical texts using visual design strategies. Traditionally, biblical texts have been taught using a teacher-centered transmission approach, which does not engage digital students, who are accustomed to visually accessing information. The proposed learning strategy introduces an…

As instructors of Jewish Studies struggle to find ways for their students to be more engaged in their learning, it is worthwhile for educators to consider whether art-based assignments are effective at reaching this goal. This article examines what students gain when their study of a biblical chapter is paired with the generation of an art product…

Using an original data set of task-based interviews, this paper presents findings on how Jewish day school students make sense of Biblical Hebrew verses in Biblical Hebrew. This paper pushes back against the convention in Jewish communal discourse to evaluate and label knowledge, shifting the focus instead to understanding how knowledge is…

This paper looked at ideological dilemmas for Orthodox Bible teachers in pluralistic Jewish high schools in North America. A phenomenological approach was used to identify sources of tension and drew on data from 30 semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers of diverse Orthodox affiliations. Findings indicated that teacher tension resulted…

This conceptual paper lays out an approach to teaching biblical Hebrew in American day schools. This paper builds on extant work in the field of Jewish education on teaching biblical Hebrew and offers day school educators a theory of language instruction for teaching biblical Hebrew.

This study examines a Pre-K-first grade full-time synchronous remote track in a Jewish day school. In the fall of 2020, Hassenfeld (Fifth Author) remotely taught biblical literature to Pre-K-first grade students. Through our analysis of two months of classroom transcripts, we sought to understand, first, the nature of student-to-student text…

This study set out to design and implement an approach to Tanakh education that would help students become expert decoders of the Biblical Hebrew text as they became expert interpreters of it. The goal, following existing, research-based best instructional practices from literacy, was to create a curriculum in which language skills and meaning…

Empirical research in Jewish education has found almost exclusive use of "transmission" pedagogy among Jewish studies teachers. This study hoped to fill out the empirical landscape by studying Jewish studies teachers who prioritize student-driven interpretation. It followed six Jewish studies teachers in four different Jewish elementary…

This article examines case studies of two part-time synagogue education programs, a conventional "Hebrew School" and an alternative program modeled after Jewish summer camp. Using the lens of teaching of Bible to children in Grades 3-5, the study provides insight into similarities and differences between the two types of programs and the…

Inquiry-oriented pedagogy is a difficult pedagogy to enact in the classroom. By placing students' questions and textual ideas at the center, the teacher opens the door to unanticipated and sometimes off-the-wall comments in text discussion. And yet, research has shown that it is exactly this type of pedagogy that leads to increased engagement and…

This study investigated the voices of students interpreting Hebrew Bible texts in one fourth-grade classroom. Through think-alouds on the Biblical text with each student, exit interviews, teacher interviews, and classroom observations, this study found that those students whose interpretive stances were more aligned with the teacher's were given…

The following research study presents data drawn from an arts-based qualitative research study from 2013. Students created artistic interpretations of biblical texts using a variety of media. One of the significant findings of the study was that learning through the arts provided students with an opportunity to take on the role of parshan, or…

This paper explores the interactions surrounding Bible teaching as a means of understanding how Jewish youth are discursively implicated within ideologies of community. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from linguistic anthropology and interactional sociolinguistics, I present a micro-analysis of a classroom lesson on the book of Leviticus to…

In this longitudinal study, carried out over a period of 6 years, the curriculum approach of student-teachers in the fields of Jewish Studies was examined, from their 1st year of studies until their 6th year when they took their places as full-fledged teachers in schools. This article focuses on the student-teachers' approaches to curriculum and…

Didactic rewrites of aggadic stories are an important resource in values education. This study, geared primarily toward teachers involved in choosing curricular materials, investigates how the didactic rewriter actually becomes an interpreter, rather than a mere transmitter, of the original text. The personal values of the rewriters can influence…