While walking around campus this week, many may find high school students walking around with stuffed socks. But what exactly are they doing? Are they just doing this for fun? Well, as it turns out, AP Psychology students are carrying around fake babies for a class project. It is a formative grade, and students will receive full credit if they are seen taking care of their baby while on campus. 

The babies are socks filled with cotton, which students made on Tuesday. The project will be over on Friday, meaning that the temporary parenting duty will be done quite soon. Many may ask about the purpose of the project. Hillel’s AP Psychology teacher, Dr. Hana Barouk, has stated that “The purpose of this project is to teach AP Psychology students about responsibility and child development.” Students are currently learning a unit on Developmental Psychology, and Dr. Barouk believes that one of the best ways for students to learn about this topic is with a hands-on experience.

This is Dr. Barouk’s second year as the school’s AP Psychology teacher and her second time assigning this project. She has stated that this project is one of the projects that students enjoy the most. With such an assignment, students not only have fun taking care of their sock babies but truly learn what it is like to be a parent. Additionally, AP Psychology students see how carefully babies must be treated. This project adds a sense of realism to learning psychology, and for many students, is more helpful than learning exclusively from a textbook.

This project has had a very positive impact on students. Sophomore Kenan Ben-Shalom stated that “I enjoyed this project because it has taught me that it is not easy to be a parent. It takes a lot of hard work to take care of a child. I also had fun taking care of my baby since I got to be the parent and deal with the challenges that come with taking care of a child.” For many, this project was a huge success and offered a great alternative to traditional classwork.