Courses from Summer 2022
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
Human Anatomy
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.
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.
Algebra. All of it. From the Beginning.
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
The Written Word
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.