Participating United States Schools

• Charter High School of the Arts Multimedia and Performing (CHAMP)
  • Van Nuys, California
• George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science
  • Philadelphia, PA 

Participating Israeli Schools

• Makif Shazar 
  • Bat – Yam, Israel
• Herzog High
  • Holon, Israel
• Ort Arab High School of Sciences Engineering
  • Lod, Israel

Program Description

This 18-month long hands-on cultural exchange program provides an opportunity for groups of high school students from Israel and the U.S. of diverse backgrounds, religions and ethnicities, the opportunity to interact for an extended period. They learn how to work together in person and virtually, including how to plan and manage a project together, overcoming language, distance, and cultural and managerial gaps.

BUILDING THE STEM TALENT PIPELINE

The program also exposes the students to STEM developments and processes in both countries, stimulating their interest and excitement in further STEM studies, and building long-term bonds of future education and professional cooperation and coexistence.

INTRODUCTION

The program commenced in the spring 2021 semester with a virtual introductory course aimed at introducing students to the field of space engineering, exposing them to the various aspects related to satellite development, and providing a common scientific knowledge. The introductory course structure is based on a 28-hour virtual course with two-hour weekly sessions. Students are grouped in mixed study groups with students from Israel and the United States. Each study group has a lead Instructor. 

For more information, contact:
Yate@aifl.org

BUILDING AND LAUNCHING A MICRO-SATELLITE

The full 18-month long program includes a physical exchange (when travel is permitted), in which participating students will travel to their partner schools (Israeli students will first travel to the U.S., after which the groups will travel back to Israel together), and will embed with partner students, participating in joint STEM classes and labs, as well as in daily life and activities. The second phase of the program is a 16-month joint project, in which the students will work together, but from their respective schools, on developing, assembling and preparing for deployment of micro-satellites. The students will interact with their paired school via bi-monthly conference calls and will learn how to design and plan a long-term international project, including how to handle intra-team dependencies, team coordination, and team communications. The project will culminate with a joint celebration of launching of the satellites.