HIT and Holon Municipality Bring STEM to the City's Youngest Learners

In an unprecedented educational initiative, HIT Holon Institute of Technology and the Holon Municipality have launched a pilot program placing the institute’s  students in local preschools to ignite a love of science from early childhood.

The kids at work with their student tutor

In an unprecedented move, HIT Holon Institute of Technology and the Holon Municipality have jointly launched a pioneering pilot program that sends outstanding HIT students into municipal kindergartens to engage preschool children in science, inquiry, and hands-on discovery.

The initiative, unprecedented in its scope and ambition, realizes a long-held vision of HIT President Prof. Eduard Yakubov: a continuous educational arc that begins well before first grade, at the very age when children explore the world through play, curiosity, and wonder.

"I feel I am fulfilling one of my greatest dreams," said Prof. Yakubov at the program's launch ceremony. "Technological education from early childhood is one of HIT's core values. This is a continuous educational journey — from kindergarten all the way to the academy."

HIT's team headed by the President  Prof. Eduard Yakubov and Holon's Municipality team headed by Mayor Shai Keinan with the students

Science Through Play, Not Lectures
The concept is simple yet powerful. Selected HIT students from science and technology disciplines visit three kindergartens across Holon on a regular basis, introducing toddlers to worlds of exploration, curiosity, and scientific thinking — all delivered in a playful, experiential language suited to their age, and supported by a professional pedagogical framework developed by the municipality's early childhood education division.

The children do not sit and listen to lectures. They investigate, experiment, ask questions, and discover that science is not merely a subject to be studied, but a way of thinking and an entire world of possibility.

Students Who Learn by Teaching
The benefits flow in both directions. Before the program began, participating students underwent dedicated training sessions preparing them to work with young children — including developing communication skills and the ability to convey complex knowledge in simple, creative ways. For many, this is the first time they have applied their academic knowledge in the field, beyond the walls of the institute.

"The connection between HIT students and the community is an inseparable part of our social vision," Prof. Yakubov emphasized. "This is an opportunity for students to apply knowledge, fulfill social responsibility, and influence the future of early childhood at its earliest stages. They are not only giving — they are also gaining a human and professional experience that cannot be taught in a classroom."

A City Investing in Tomorrow
Holon Mayor Shai Keinan sees the initiative as an expression of deeply held municipal values and a clear educational strategy. "In Holon, we promote educational excellence from the earliest age, expose children to the worlds of science and technology in an experiential way, and forge connections between the community, the student population, and the education system," he said at the launch.

The goal, the mayor added, is to nurture a generation that is curious, creative, and contributive to society — values that begin to take shape in the kindergarten yard.

A Broader Vision: From Kindergarten to Academic Degree
The preschool program complements HIT's flagship initiative, "Metzuyanoa'r”, a track that enables outstanding high school students to begin working toward a technology degree as early as ninth grade, a program founded by Prof. Yakubov some 30 years ago. The new early-childhood expansion creates a natural continuum: nurture scientific curiosity at age four or five, sustain it through elementary school, and channel it into serious academic study by the time students reach middle school.

Three kindergartens across the city were selected to launch this pioneering and innovative initiative, with the aspiration of expanding the project to additional kindergartens in the future. Led by the city's Education Department and HIT's Student Dean's Office headed by Dr. Limor Sahar Inbar, Dean of Students, and Mrs. Yafa Sitbon, Head of Social Engagement at the Student Dean's Office, the students underwent professional training sessions to prepare them for working with young children.

Early success has already generated considerable interest and HIT and the Holon Municipality are looking ahead together, aspiring to make Holon a national model for technological education that begins from day one.

HIT – Holon Institute of Technology continues to operate at the forefront of technological education in Israel, driven by the conviction that the future begins with curiosity — and curiosity begins in early childhood.