Palmer Trinity School

Mathematics and Computer Science Department By Joseph Rivera, Computer Science So many exciting computer science developments are happening at Palmer Trinity School! Recently, our department officially merged with the Mathematics Department to become the Mathematics and Computer Science Department. This exciting union was a long time coming, as we have collaborated with the Mathematics Department at PTS on many projects over the years. The goal of the new Mathematics and Computer Science Department is to cultivate lifelong learners who are confident, creative, critical thinkers and true problem solvers. Last year, five seniors joined together for a year-long project to design, program and host a website that allows users to play games with the aim of generating ad-revenue to donate to local charities. This course was a completely hands- on experience for the students and required them to research, learn about and program a variety of technologies, including Linux, Apache, HTML5, CSS3, P5.js, Ruby with Sinatra, MySQL and more. This experience inspired many students to study computer science at the college level. This year, another senior completed an independent study that sharpened his Python programming skills as he developed a web application using Linux, NGINX, HTML5, CSS3, Python, Django, PostgreSQL and more that enabled students and teachers to better manage their coursework and schedules. In 2020, our PTS STEEEM Club won the first and second phase of NASA's national Growing Beyond Earth Maker Contest! In partnership with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, this competition asked teams to design a limited-size, plant-growing container that scientists living on the International Space Station could use to grow different vegetables, like red romaine lettuce, in microgravity. To bring home this victory, our students worked incredibly hard on their growth chamber "GAIA," which stands for Growth Apparatus In Astro- Environments. This year, the STEEEM Club is continuing that project by creating student-designed, 3D-printed parts and Arduino boards and sensors in an effort to automate their design. Today, our new department only continues to evolve. Our students enthusiastically conduct independent study courses, participate in the STEEEM Club and design, build and work on forward-thinking projects in the Innovation Station, a makerspace led by fellow computer science teacher Brian Diaz. Mr. Diaz and I have also proposed three new courses for the student curriculum next year: Computer Science Principles, AP Computer Science Principles and Advanced Topics in Programming. Computer Science Principles will be a one-semester, introductory course that offers students a variety of experiences in computer science. AP Computer Science Principles will give upper school students an introductory college-level computing course. Students who excel at that course can move on to Advanced Topics in Programming, where they will learn about networking, encryption, error-handling, computer graphics, data structures and algorithm analyses. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it's that technology will continue to be an essential part of our everyday lives. It is with great enthusiasm that the Mathematics and Computer Science Department has joined forces to provide more opportunities for our students to learn and grow in the field of computer science, and we look forward to watching our students turn those skills into real world opportunities. palmertrinity.org 12 BIRD'S EYE VIEW

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