Abstract:

In Israel, there is a separation between the Jewish education system and the Arab Israeli education system. The decision for this separation has both practical and ideological explanations. There are those who claim that the demographic realities dictate this separation. However it is revealing that the policy since the founding of the state was to strengthen and preserve the Jewish identity amongst the Jewish sector, and a coming to terms with the national identity of the Arab Israeli pupils. The ideological component is the more important of the two; this is evidenced by the fact that even in places where it would be possible to establish a combined education system, like in mixed cities like Ramla.
Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) has developed an integral system of environmental education and training. The course is named “Green Ambassadors”, and the goal is to educate the next generation environmental education. The course is divided into 6 groups; each group contains 3 to 5 Israeli Hebrew speaker students, whose goal is to provide information on environmental to Arabic school with Arabic speaker pupils'. The teams of five -graders and six -graders from “Al Omariya” school in Ramla have been chosen to take part in the project.
Concentrate efforts on the improvement of education for sustainable development marked the beginning of a serious reform to cover all types of education and training from preschool to vocational and post -university.
During meetings held within the school, the students taught the pupils via games and activities what renewable energy means, how to turn waste into a resource, what energy conversion and renewable energy mean etc. In order to illustrate the topics studied by the pupils, the students used a moveable laboratory containing demonstrations, experiments and creative activities.
Through the experience, students strengthened their academic skills and values, formulated ethical attitudes toward reality, developed a professional and civilian approach, and understood how they could affect and influence their surroundings. The results show higher rates of success and involvement due to an enriching and challenging experience of learning. The pupils turn into more aware in protecting the environment in which they live. Pass on the knowledge and warn the people around from the environmental damage and waste of energy- this serves the purpose of the course-training "green ambassadors" from a young age, which will minimize the damage and increase the global consciousness.

Keywords:

Environmental Education, Elementary school, Hebrew, Arabic.