(Courtesy of RKYHS) Students in the computer science program at Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School (RKYHS) are skillfully and deftly developing solutions to real-world problems. As part of the RKYHS four year computer science and SRTI independent research/entrepreneur track, students develop foundational skills in computer coding, programming and research, then parlay those skills into real-life applications with startup company and entrepreneurship approaches.
The college level seminars in the program offer a sequence of courses beginning with an introduction to computer science class which teaches the basics of computer programming through building simple text-based games and learning HTML and CSS to develop simple websites. This is followed by AP Computer Science A, equivalent to a first semester college course in computer science, focusing on object oriented programming using the Java programming language.
Students use data structures to organize large data sets, developing and implementing algorithms to process data and discover new information, analyzing potential solutions and ethical and social implications of computing systems. As they progress to advanced topics in computer science, a project-based course covering a number of current topics in computer science research and practice, students work on a series of projects to build a modern computer from the ground up. They then explore machine learning, neural networks and artificial intelligence, including a system that recognizes simple images, similar to what is used for self-driving cars and computer vision.
Their final area is an exploration of cryptography that allows them to understand the secret codes that underlie all of the internet’s security, as well as to create Bitcoin and other modern uses of cryptography, and explore quantum computers. Students finish the year with a capstone research exploration of a computer science topic of their own choosing. When studying quantitative computer science and data modeling,” students utilize linear algebra, bayesian estimation, Monte Carlo simulations, and fourier analysis to solve real-world problems. Students can then take their skills to the next level in the RKYHS Scientific Research Training Institute (SRTI) Independent Research in Computer Science and SRTI Entrepreneurship, where students learn programming and research methods with an entrepreneurial approach and gain startup company experience.
Recently, RKYHS students have been engaged in research and entrepreneurial projects including a science research paper on a systematic way to improve free-throw shooting percentages; a yahrzeit calendar app that people can use to track their remembrance of relatives who have passed away; and an app that allows users to send an article link to friends that automatically includes their comments and highlighting of the article.
RKYHS 11th graders Moshe Lansey and Raziel Moesch are developing an algebra equation calculator that helps middle school students practice algebraic manipulation. The goal of the “algebra equation solver” is to innovate and reimagine the process of teaching and learning conventional algebra equations. They are doing so by allowing the student to experiment and try out ways to solve problems rather than through rote learning and memorization, working with two formats of achieving this independent understanding. “We’ve been coding in CSS, HTML and Javascript with the assistance of ChatGPT and Codalio. Both of these are different mechanisms to help the user develop software. As a side effort, we’ve been comparing the two formats in parallel in order to find out which is more effective for our use case,” commented Lansey.
The RKYHS computer science department is co-chaired by faculty members with cross- curricular expertise. Department Co-Chair Dr. W. Scott Stornetta holds a PhD in physics from Stanford University as well as degrees, studies or positions from BYU, MIT and Rutgers. He also held positions at Bell Labs and was one of the developers/inventors of BlockChain. Department Co-Chair Abbey Roth brings her corporate experience in both business and technology and advanced MBA degrees. Roth is part of a nationwide team helping develop a new AP course called AP Business Principles, and RKYHS is one of fewer than 20 schools nationwide field testing the course.
Working under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Scott Stornetta, students in the SRTI Entrepreneurship program learn computer science, programming, research methods and startup company/entrepreneurship approaches, offering unique and advanced training in conducting real scientific research with an entrepreneurial approach.
The RKYHS computer science program operates both parallel to and integrated with the RKYHS STEM program and the SRTI research program. SRTI/Entrepreneurship is an extension of the RKYHS business curriculum offerings which include personal finance, introduction to business, marketing, entrepreneurship, financial investing and AP microeconomics and macroeconomics classes. In these classes, students develop business concepts, presentation skills, primary and secondary market research to validate needs for their product concepts, brand identities and marketing plans aligned with concepts. In the entrepreneurship course students do initial financial modeling to determine when their product concepts might show a profit and how much startup money they will need and which methods of startup funding would be the most appropriate for their concept.
As students in the RKYHS STEM and computer science tracks engineer and program their prototypes, they develop business cases and pitches which are often entered into both local and national competitions. Students who have participated in computer science programs have utilized their cumulative skills and won competitions including the prestigious Cutler-Bell Prize for Excellence in High School Computing from the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), CIJE Shark Tank and NJ Pitch.
