By Michal Rosenberg
Its visionary team developed a revolutionary educational philosophy they named Gogya, from the Hebrew term for pedagogy, pedagogya (leading the child). Gogya is a holistic approach that promotes academic excellence, Torah values, socialization, collaboration, creativity, emotional development, and real-world experience.
Building a vast network of 88 schools and educating 40,000 students is only part of the AMIT Network’s story. The next bold chapter looks to expand beyond the classroom to bring Gogya’s comprehensive, groundbreaking model to the global education community.
At the heart of this vision is the construction of the Gabel & Straus Family Campus at AMIT Kfar Batya and its Evan & Layla Green Family Foundation Gogya Building. This transformative center for innovation, leadership, and learning in Ra’anana will bring together educators and students from across Israel and the world and train them in essential skills and cutting-edge learning models. The adoption of the Gogya methodology will bring the educational world together in the shared pursuit of excellence.
The AMIT Community and Beyond
The Gogya Center will be a dynamic hub where teachers and students push past the boundaries of traditional education and broaden their intellectual and creative horizons. Differentiated settings will invite student collaboration, partner/mentor study, and group learning, accommodated by movable walls in the flexible space.
Teachers and students will take part in AMIT’s signature hands-on skills training at various centers within Gogya and will then bring these essential, practical tools back into their schools, nationwide, and beyond.
These immersive learning experiences and creative training workshops will have this modern, versatile space buzzing with intellectual energy.
Skills and Leadership Centers
AMIT’s holistic vision comes to life as soon as guests enter the Gogya building. The inviting lobby opens to four key centers that together tell the story of how AMIT is reshaping the educational landscape: Audrey Lookstein Educators’ Innovation Center, Gogya Experience & Visitors’ Center, Innovation Hub, and Gogya Conference Center.
The Audrey Lookstein Educators’ Innovation Center is a pioneering model that guides students and educational teams in the acquisition of critical 21st century skills through fun, experiential learning methods.
- Cognitive: decision-making, critical and creative thinking, problem-solving
- Functional: self-management, determination, entrepreneurship, adaptability
- Social-emotional: communication, teamwork, reflection, social awareness
Taught in sequence, the curriculum is scaffolded from grades seven to 12 to ensure students first acquire foundational skills before building up to more complex ones. This intentional approach prepares students not just for tests but for life, with tools like time management and effective decision-making.
For example, students are challenged to help people cross a river by boat. They need to determine which boat to use and which path to take, weighing factors like sturdiness, speed, and safety. A postgame conversation evaluates the students’ choices, what impacted them, and what they prioritized in the process.
This engaging lesson sparks students’ imagination while imparting important lessons. The center has a corresponding classroom curriculum for every skill introduced with these methods, ensuring continuity. AMIT teachers are trained in this skills-based approach so they can to reinforce and build on these ideas.
In a transformative step, educators from across Israel will be invited to take advantage of this skills curriculum and implement it for their networks, giving an entire generation of Israeli youth access to this fundamental and vital approach to student development.
This same approach is evident in the Gogya Conference Center, but through a different lens—teacher training and leadership development. Here, teachers become mentors and facilitators of learning, shifting their interactions with students. They gain the tools and strategies to navigate AMIT’s Learning Management System (LMS) Pathways of Learning and to support students in this new model. The center launches teachers into the next frontier of their profession, empowering them to nurture student agency and lead in new directions.
AMIT’s Leadership Development initiative cultivates the next generation of leaders through a range of enriching programs, mentorship, and strategic support. Harnessing talent from its strong foundation of dedicated educators, this curriculum helps them grow into roles that enhance both their personal achievement and the network’s educational offerings.
Educators nationwide and internationally will have the opportunity to participate in these training workshops and skill-building conferences, empowering their leadership and educational toolkit with the same comprehensive approach.
From Vision to Action
Another dynamic center at Gogya is the Innovation Hub, an ecosystem of creativity and imagination that takes “hands-on” to another level, is open to students and teachers alike, and takes the skills workshop lessons out into the real world. It includes:
The Ruth & Bernard Alter Makerspace, where students experiment and become active problem-solvers using “test and tweak” design disciplines. Equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters, and robotics kits, the space encourages curiosity and critical thinking.
The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center’s courses and workshops are focused on digital tools and robotics to encourage students to explore big ideas, take initiative, and develop real-world solutions to current problems.
The Pottery Lab introduces hands-on modeling, with traditional clay, potter’s wheels, and foam sculpting tools that blend art and engineering and enhance creative and technical skills.
Also available to guests of Gogya, these spaces promote adaptability and resourcefulness while nurturing a collaborative mindset and the drive to improve the world, reflecting the “Start-Up Nation” spirit.
Gogya is all about connection—academic with social-emotional, the classroom with the real world, religious with non-religious communities, students with teachers, AMIT with other education networks. In every facet of its educational approach, AMIT seeks to weave connections and create a stronger, more unified fabric of society.
Anchored in the Gogya model, the new campus and its innovative impact will be a beacon for the global educational community and reinforce AMIT’s century-old mission that continues to shape its direction every single day.
