Current Projects
Some of my current research projects are listed here:
The Journey to the land of "Both-And": A study on teaching pluralism as a set of competencies
A study that focuses on the “Pluralism Mindset” of 10-12 year-olds. This 2-year funded research project explores how children develop and improve their both/and reasoning skills, tested in 5 schools and 12 classrooms across Israel. Among other elements the study piloted a measure of pluralism called the "Magic Wand Survey".
HMCC: Holocaust Memory as Cultural Code
Co-PI with Dr. Shmuel Lederman: "Holocaust Memory as a "Cultural Code": A 2-year funded research project (IHRA, Claims Conference, and the Weiss Livnat Center for Holocaust Research) on the relations between Holocaust memory and political stances in the public domain, among young adults and among student activists in nine European countries.
Teaching religions across lines of segregation
Israel's multi-religious and deeply segmented society presents a unique challenge for teaching religion, with a significant lack of programs promoting religious literacy and pluralism. To bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical experience, we established a field-research group at the Haifa Hub for research on religion, bringing together scholars and educators. The group’s goal is to establish a professional community to develop and empirically examine effective models for teaching religion in Israel, with an emphasis on promoting understanding and shared society.
How much of a pluralist is ChatGPT?
In a recent study, we considered pluralism as a benchmark for evaluating generative AI chatbots’ ability to navigate and potentially endorse diverse values and perspectives. Using the Magic Wand Survey (MWS), which presents diverse value conflicts, we empirically measured 2 dimensions of pluralism -“Both/and Reasoning” (cognitive pluralism) and “Willingness to Preserve Difference” (behavioral pluralism) - across 120 iterations of 4 prominent AI chatbots, comparing them to a human sample (N = 335). AI chatbots exhibited higher cognitive than behavioral pluralism. Furthermore, while chatbots’ cognitive pluralism significantly exceeded human levels, their behavioral pluralism was comparable overall yet notably lower than humans on some morally charged issues (e.g., capital punishment). Clear and systematic variations also emerged between models: while general patterns held, the degree of pluralism varied substantially, with Gemini 1.5 Pro being the most pluralistic and ChatGPT 4o the least among those tested. These findings underscore the importance of pluralism as a key benchmark in AI evaluation. We plan to continue this line of testing with additional LLMs and tools.