Israel’s High Tech Education / Izhar Shay
Before the Passover vacation I was invited to attend the practical matriculation exam of Israel Sci-Tech Schools network students in the Science & Engineering Track. Dr. Meir Fershtman, Head of the Goralnik Institute for the enhancement of teaching and learning, invited me to observe the students, who had been working on projects in engineering and electronics, constructing an engineering prototype on which they were being examined. If you happen to be a reader of this column, you will know that it rarely pays the educations system any compliments. But there is nothing like a day such as this to fill you with optimism. Among the projects for the recycling of black water in the home, a computerized greenhouse and an autonomous robot fireman, I wandered around with great enjoyment and watched the next generation of Israel’s hi-tech.
Take, for example, the “Eyes for the Blind” project from Habonim Sci-Tech School in Bat Yam. Four girls, Heli Bas, Mayan Gendelman, Adi Filosof and Moran Aharon, developed a robot designed to replace seeing-eye dogs. The project was the brainchild of one of the students who has a blind family member. Dr. Shlomo Tzafrir, the project supervisor, is a expert in brain research, the development of computerized models of neural networks and system management. Under his guidance the girls built a robot with a GPS, sensors, an electrical engine and controls. The girls were examined on their knowledge of the system’s definitions, its various components and their underlying electronics. As far as I can recall from my Technion days, their answers were spot on.
Every house can be “smart”
Another team came from the Sci-Tech School for Flight and Aerospace at Maaleh Adumim. Just like, any group of entrepreneurs that turns to a Capital Venture Fund, they developed an iPhone application that remotely controls the turning on and off of many electrical appliances in the modern home. Their iStart project, supervised by Eli Cohen, can turn any house into a Smart House. Shachar Davidovich was responsible for the databases and market survey conducted at the start of the project. Kobi Bass handled the TCP-based communication between the various project components and the iPhone. Danny Zebrenin was in charge of the iPhone software which he wrote in Xcode, “which only few understand and no one was able to help me”. He was alone throughout the learning process, working via the web and by trial and error. “This learning process was not easy and included many difficulties in the transfer from C# to Xcode, which I think is quite primitive.” Ohad Ronen, the initiator of the project, was a broadcaster on the local radio in Maaleh Adumim and even worked on some TV programs. He is also the founder and director of a private company that accompanies projects to leverage the achievements of young students by accompanying high schoolers in order to “create a better quality of community socially and scholastically.”
In addition to his preparations for the matriculation exams and transition to the role of company director, Ohad is currently getting ready for his military service. “It is a great opportunity to confront new challenges that I have never faced before”, he says, “I plan to give the army my all, no matter where I am stationed”, he told the examiners.
I don’t know what grade he got on the exam, but I am more than willing to give him a score of 100 in Civics!
Izhar Shay is a General Partner in Canaan Partners and a member of the Israeli Friends of Israel Sci-Tech Schools Network
Published on ”Globes” newspaper in Hebrew, 11 April 2010, Translated by Israel Sci-Tech Schools network