Courses for G.T.Ed. 2022

These classes were offered in the summer of 2022

​

Courses for G.T.Ed. 2023 will depend on interest.

Chemistry from the Very Beginning

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, these four elements were believed to exist in harmony to form everything you could ever touch. Then, everything didn’t change because everyone believed Aristotle. Only Democritus, believer that small particles “atomos” comprised all matter, could stop this falsehood from spreading. But because of Aristotle’s influence, his theory vanished.

Hundreds and hundreds of  years passed and the world discovered a new atomic theorist - a meteorologist named Dalton - and although his brain was big, we still have a long way to go before we have a proper understanding of atomic theory.

But I believe we can learn it all.

Join me on this journey as we cover the numerous major breakthroughs that taught us what we know about atoms and subatomic particles. Our journey will entail questioning all you know about matter and - who knows, it just might prime you to be the next atomic theorist, the one that can save us from the Fire Nation

gted gted gted

The study of human anatomy is one of the oldest scientific disciplines, with a history dating back to ancient Egypt. In fact, someone could teach an entire class just on the history of anatomical science... but this is not that class. Instead, like generations of anatomists before us, we'll peel back the layers of the body to study its building blocks, including the skeletal, muscular, nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive systems. Along the way, we'll examine through an evolutionary lens how the human body differs from the bodies of our animal cousins (from the wrist joint of the Devonian fish Tiktaalik to the vocal tracts of Neanderthals) and how we came to be the way we are.

02

Human Anatomy

01

Cryptology

Cryptology is the study of the codes and ciphers used to create secret writing. In this math course, students begin their journey with an exploration of many early techniques for creating secret writing, such as cipher wheels, the Caesar shift, polyalphabetic substitution, and the Vigenère cipher. They move on to learn about modern techniques including RSA public key cryptography, as students explore how data transmitted by computers can be secured with digital encryption. Discussions about the vulnerabilities of each encryption system enable students to attack and decrypt messages using techniques such as frequency analysis and cribbing. Students apply the concepts learned to encrypt and decrypt their own secret messages.

​

Though the course’s central focus is on the mathematics of cryptology, the historical context of cryptography and cryptographic devices is provided to further develop an understanding of this branch of mathematics. For example, students examine the design and fallibility of the Enigma Machine, one of the most important cryptographic devices in history.

The primary goals of the Cryptology course are for students to become familiar with encoding and decoding messages from various time periods and to use manual, machine, and digital cryptosystems. The emphasis of the course is cryptographic mathematics, such as modular arithmetic, probability, and number theory.

All of middle school algebra from the very beginning, when letters like "x" and "y" are first introduced. All the most relevant things. you need to succeed in high school math and beyond. Great for learning it for the first time, or for finally addressing things you find confusing, like fractions!

Prerequisites: can multiply numbers and add and subtract positive and negative numbers

02

Algebra. All of it. From the Beginning.

This course will introduce students to English literature and writing. Students will work in various genres, including personal narratives, creative non-fiction, and historical writing. The class will analyze texts in order to understand effective writing. Students will also be asked to write their own work in each genre and to develop their own personal written voice.

01

The Written Word

Meet some of our Instructors

Matt has taught gifted students since 2016, both privately and through CTY. This summer, he taught Paradoxes and Infinities and Chemistry in Society. He has also been teaching SAT (185 points average improvement), ACT (7.1 points average improvement), competitive math, AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics for years. He claims he can "teach anything", and challenges you to test this claim. Other classes he has taught include:

•  Spreadsheets are Cool

•  Why Things Freeze/Boil (spoiler, gravity mostly)

•  Cryptology (and Mathematical Cryptology)

•  Logic (and Mathematical Logic)

•  How to Adult (Finance)

•  How to Adult (Career)

•  Designing Competitive Math Problems

01

Matt

02

Melissa

Melissa is a classical studies PhD candidate and teacher at Duke. She thrives teaching Latin, Greek, and ancient history, but if students are interested, she can also teach other history and English/writing courses.

Erich has been teaching gifted and profoundly gifted students for years, teaching subjects such as Abstract Mathematics, Elementary Number Theory, and Competitive Mathematics for CTY's Online Programs in addition to his work as a professor. He is the parent of two profoundly gifted children, and has given a Ted Talk on the flaws in our current science education system. Alongside Matt, Erich designed a competitive math club for gifted students that has been running virtually since 2020.

03

Erich