This paper, from CASJE Applied Research Fellow, Dr. Tal Vaizman, investigates how two North American Jewish overnight summer camps responded to the 2024 Israel–Gaza conflict by implementing distinct educational strategies proposed here as “aboutism” and “virtuism.”
At the Pennsylvania-based camp (PBC), the aboutism approach guided programming: Israeli-led expert sessions emphasized knowledge transmission about Israel’s geography, institutions, and conflict context. In contrast, at the Maryland-based camp (MBC), the virtuism approach prevailed: staff facilitated dialogue-based activities aimed at moral and identity development, valuing camper perspectives and peer discussion over structured fact-delivery. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork during the 2024 summer season, the analysis explores how each camp’s culture, staff composition, and perceptions of campers shaped these differing strategies.
Findings show that while aboutism offered structured content and clarity, it limited opportunities for reflection and camper agency, and that virtuism promoted discussion and belonging, but often lacked shared foundational knowledge and concrete learning outcomes. The study argues that an integrated model—beginning with factual framing through aboutism, then transitioning to facilitator-led reflection via virtuism—could strengthen experiential learning in informal education contexts such as camps. These results contribute to understanding how informal, culture-rich settings can support experiential learning, identity formation, and cross-cultural dialogue.
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