HEMDA
SCHWARTZ-REISMAN
SCIENCE EDUCATION CENTER

TEL AVIV YAFO

Computational science program

Science program for outstanding high school students

The program was initiated and developed by a group of HEMDA's teachers in 2002 with the goal of providing outstanding and creative, high school science students with tools for solving scientific problems numerically, i.e. by using a computer.

"Computational Science" is a 3-years (10th to 12th grade) interdisciplinary scientific field and is taught at the highest level for the matriculation examination, recognized by all universities.  Computational science harnesses the computer to numerically solve problems that cannot be cracked in any other manner. The program integrates specific scientific fields with mathematical concepts and skills using the computer as a tool.  Computational scientist constructs simulations, studies them and compares them with empirical data.  

Teaching is conducted via project-based learning and uses a ‘team model’ approach.  Such projects bring together a group of students to initiate an assignment, they work on it as team and are evaluated on it together. Students work in small research teams, gaining the experience and skills required for science and technology projects. 

In the past 16 years, many collaborations were introduced with bothleading universities and high-tech industries in Israel and abroad. 

Prof. Haim Harari, former president of the Weizmann Institute:
"I regard this program as the means of promoting excellence and the expansion of scientifichorizons for the best of our students".

Schwartz-Reisman competition 

Former Israel’s President Shimon Perez awards two HEMDA graduates