Sensing the Truth: IPBL 2025

At Chaviva High School, our IPBL (Integrated Project-Based Learning) program invites students to think critically, question assumptions, and explore how diverse disciplines connect around a central theme. This year’s theme—truth—felt both timeless and urgently relevant.

Students engaged in a seven-week exploration designed to help them evaluate truth and identify bias online, in society, and within themselves. Each week, they peeled back a new layer, giving them the tools to analyze, question, and understand truth from multiple perspectives—ultimately preparing them to navigate the 21st century as educated, productive, Jewish women.

Week 1 – Sensing the Truth Museum

The experience began with a full-sensory immersion. The halls of Chaviva became a “Sensing the Truth” museum, featuring five interactive exhibits designed to help students explore how we perceive truth through our senses. From sound to sight, each station challenged students to consider how reliable our perceptions are—and what that means for the truths we claim to know.

Week 2 – Reading Between the Lines: Truth and Media

With their critical lenses sharpened, students dove into the world of media. They analyzed how bias can subtly (or not so subtly) influence reporting, and how the source of an article often shapes opinion before the reader even reaches the first paragraph. These conversations laid the groundwork for becoming more thoughtful, discerning news consumers.

Week 3 – Insta-Truth: Truth and Social Media

In today’s fast-paced digital world, information spreads quickly, and not always accurately. Students explored how truth can be distorted online and how to identify misinformation. They discussed the responsibility that comes with sharing content and the importance of being thoughtful, careful, and truthful when engaging with the digital world.

Week 4 – Buy My Product!: Truth and Advertising

To explore the blurred lines between persuasion and deception, we welcomed advertising professional Mr. Dovid Rotshtein to Chaviva. Together, students uncovered the tactics advertisers use to attract attention—and the ethical implications when those strategies cross into manipulation. They walked away with new insight into the power of messaging and the importance of transparency.

Week 5 – Relative(s) Truth: Cultural Truths

Truth isn’t just personal—it’s cultural. Each student received an invitation to our Culture Banquet, which came with specific norms based on different countries and traditions. During the meal, students had to follow their assigned cultural guidelines, leading to an eye-opening and often humorous exploration of how truth and etiquette vary around the globe.

Week 6 – Analyzing Truth: Collaboration Day

Teachers across departments united for Collaboration Day, co-creating interdisciplinary lessons that showed just how interconnected truth is across subjects and experiences. Highlights included:

• Mrs. Nathan & Mrs. Berkowitz (Chumash): “Moshe Emes, v’Toraso Emes”

• Mrs. Weingarten & Mr. Hopkins (Chemistry): Bias in scientific experimentation

• Mrs. Hendeles, Mrs. Cohen & Ms. Halpern (Math): Misleading graphs and data presentation

• Mrs. Wolman (Navi) & Mrs. Hlavaty (Health Ed): Facing discomfort as a gateway to truth

• Ms. Downing (History), Mrs. Mandel & Ms. Nussbaum (Navi): “Two Sides of Every Story”—navigating complexity

• Mrs. Tova Hershkowitz (Na’aleh): Exploring the idea of “opposite truths”

• Rabbi Koval, Rabbi Lebovics & Rabbi Spero: A dynamic panel on how Torah addresses complex truths

Week 7 – THE Truth: Halacha and Midvar Sheker Tirchak

In our final week of structured learning, students turned inward, exploring the spiritual dimension of truth through the lens of halacha. They studied the laws of Midvar Sheker Tirchak (“distance yourself from falsehood”) and discussed the deeper concept of Emes—not just factual accuracy, but truth that brings forth the will of Hashem in the world. Through an engaging game of To Tell the Truth, students applied their halachic knowledge to real-life scenarios, learning how to act with integrity, intention, and wisdom.

A Final Surprise: Field Trip to the Museum of Illusions

As students transitioned into the final phase of project development for the IPBL Gallery, they were surprised by a trip to the Museum of Illusions in downtown Cleveland—an experience that aligned perfectly with the theme of Sensing the Truth.

The interactive exhibits challenged their perceptions physically and memorably. Students especially enjoyed the Ames room, which uses slanted trapezoidal floors to create an illusion of size difference, and the reversed room, where objects appeared to defy gravity. These tactile illusions offered a playful yet powerful reminder of how easily our senses—and minds—can be misled.

After the trip, students reflected on what it means to trust what we see, hear, and feel—and how those insights could influence the final pieces they were preparing for the IPBL Gallery.

The IPBL Gallery: Showcasing Sensing the Truth

At the beginning of the semester, students were asked: How does perception shape and alter truth—and should it? That essential question guided their exploration for weeks. They brought their answers to life in the culminating IPBL Gallery presentation.

In front of a public audience of peers, teachers, and family members, students debuted artistic, digital, and mathematical displays responding to their semester of study. Projects addressed truth in the senses, media, social media, advertising, culture, analysis, and halacha. Each group researched the “two sides” of the truth: the version we first perceive, and the deeper understanding we reach through reflection and study. These insights were documented in formal written reports and brought to life in creative artifacts.

Perhaps most impressively, the next day, students presented their work again—this time in front of their peers during the IPBL period. It was a vulnerable and courageous moment that highlighted not just their content knowledge but their growth in confidence and communication.

Thank You

We are incredibly proud of the hard work, curiosity, and creativity that our students poured into this semester-long exploration of truth. Their willingness to ask difficult questions and dig deeply into what it means to discern truth in today’s world was nothing short of inspiring.

Special thanks to Mrs. Schabes, Ms. Downing, Mrs. Taylor, Mr. Hopkins, and Mrs. Nathan for their planning, preparation, and guidance throughout the IPBL experience. Finally, thank you to the families and friends who showed up, asked thoughtful questions, and supported our students along the way.

Our IPBL Team during Purim!