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Academic Classes
Pick three first choice classes and three alternates. You can choose any combination of classes across subjects or choose to focus on your specific area of interest.
Science & Engineering
3rd Rock from the Sun
Besides Dihydrogen Monoxide (water) and life, what other features of our planet makes it unique?
We’ll examine the properties of planet earth, the 3rd Rock from the Sun, from the ozone layer in our atmosphere to the chemosynthesis occurring at the deep sea vents on our ocean floor. Experiments in chemistry, biology and geology will help us understand our atmosphere and the composition of our planet. We’ll make a Cloud Chamber using dry ice to investigate alpha and beta radiation and study what is going on in the core of our Earth. And, of course, no discussion on the planet earth would be complete without a thorough exploration of Dihydrogen Monoxide and the properties that make it so special.
Astronomy & Cosmology: Planets, Stars and Constellations
Totally astronomical, dude!
Do you know how far it is to the nearest star beyond our solar system? How far to the nearest galaxy? In this class, learn the language of astronomy, navigate the sky, and begin to understand our place in the universe. Discover why star names are in Arabic and constellation names in Greek. “Follow the arc to Arcturus and speed to Spica” to find the handle of the great dipper?
See what the night sky looks like today, what it will look like in a million years or what it looked like a million years ago.
Learn about new ideas in cosmology that suggest how our universe may have originated and the latest thinking on our expanding universe.
Explore basic star movement, star charts, constellation patterns and the art of seeing with your home-made star chart viewer. Apply what you’ve learned by creating a classroom model of the night sky.
Biomes & Mapping: Charting Small Worlds
Explore biomes by creating a 3-D relief map and then populating it with organisms.
Investigate the different categories of biomes and learn how and why living organisms arrange themselves in these communities.
What factors determine biomes and how are they are related to contour of the environment. Survey different eco-systems and explore how changes in conditions and human activity have affected biomes during the history of life.
As you identify adaptations that influence biomes you will also learn about basic types of maps and develop your mapping skills. Investigate topographic maps and how to make and understand a 3-D relief map.
Construct a relief map from a topographic map and write the story of the life found there, using what you have learned about adaptation and biomes to decide on the vegetation and animal inhabitants. Use your new-found mapping skills to check out geocaching and orienteering.
Ecological Explorations
Planet earth is home to millions of living organisms, all living in specific eco-systems.
Trek with an ecology patrol to discover the ways plants, animals (including human beings), and the non-living elements of our environment are all linked together and how they affect each other.
We will conduct experiments and make observations as we explore photosynthesis, animal behavior and bioaccumulation. We will learn about food webs, and water, nitrogen and carbon cycles, and energy flow and the environmental impact of pollution and other human activities. Hands-on experiments and activities will help us learn and understand the network of interactions that make up an ecosystem.
Engineering: Alternative Energy
Energy is one of the most fundamental parts of our universe.
Energy lights our cities and powers our vehicles, trains, planes and
rockets. Energy warms our homes, cooks our food, plays our music, gives
us pictures on television. What is energy? In this class we’ll explore
traditional forms of energy and then learn about alternative energy
forms being developed today. We'll build a vehicle and try propelling it
with different forms of energy. We’ll also build a wind turbine to
generate renewable energy.
Environmental Chemistry
A new planet has been selected for possible habitation.
Be part of the science team that explores the environmental chemistry of this planet. Is the water safe? Will it support life as we know it? How about the atmosphere? Will we be able to breathe? How do weather systems really work?
Conduct soil and water analysis experiments checking for metal’s, salts and toxins. Learn how scientists determine what the lethal dose of a chemical is for humans. Perform experiments that relate to weather systems by looking at the temperature and pressure of gasses. Learn how to measure ultraviolet radiation and look at its role in life systems. After all of your tests, are you ready to pack your bags for planet x?
LEGO Robotics: Mission Mars
One of the best ways to explore a planet is to send a robot. Rapid prototyping...remote sensing...here’s your chance to design solutions to practical problems the way professional engineers do—with talent and teamwork.
Your team will work together to construct a robot that will explore a simulated Mars’ surface. Red Rover Mars explorer robots are constructed from Lego sensors, electronic brains and motors. Your robot will use its sensors to determine where it is; its brain to decide what it will do next; and its motors to move and explore the Mars’ terrain.
Oceanography
Save our oceans! The future of our oceans depends on knowledge.
Explore the marine eco-system and gain an understanding of its complexity and the issues that are putting it at risk.
We will see the importance of estuaries and reefs and how maintaining healthy oceans is vital to the sustainability of life on earth. Through experiments, activities, and dissections we will learn about sea water composition and pH and their relationship to marine life. Investigate the effect human activities such as overfishing, pollution and acidification have on the integrity of the oceans and the complexities of marine resources management.
Organic Chemistry: Lively Lipids in the Primordial Soup
Carbon based (organic) compounds form the basis of almost all earthly life processes.
Experiment with some of these building blocks of life and find out why carbon is central to living cells what role lipids play in life systems.
Can life form without carbon or lipids? Learn how to use an Infa-Red spectrometer to investigate how chemists can identify organic compounds. Perform organic experiments to extract lipids from food sources, make your own soap from different types of fats and oils, and investigate how lipids form and what unique chemical properties they might have: how they stick together, how they interact with water, how they define the boundary of a cell. Learn the trick for using lipids to make designs on gold foil that appear only when you breathe on them. Finally, look at theories on the origin of life and imagine how life might be different on different planets.
Planetary Geology
What are the elements that compose the planets of our solar system?
Identify these elements in a variety of experiments and activities. Use Bunsen burners to do the Flame test to identify elements; grow crystals and watch them solidify under a polarizing microscope; identify crystals, minerals, and rocks; pan for gold using black sand samples obtained from the Discovery channel's show-Gold Rush, and examine a meteorite and compare the similarities and differences to Earth rocks. Finally, explore the evolution of our atmosphere and the atmospheres of other terrestrial and gas planets.
Solar Storms
A gas pipeline in Russia explodes killing hundreds of people. A satellite mysteriously falls silent, interrupting TV and cellular phone traffic. A power blackout throws millions of people into darkness. These are only a few of the many things that solar storms can do when they arrive at the earth unexpectedly. In an age where we have increasingly come to rely upon the smooth operation of our technology, we have also made ourselves vulnerable to the ebb and flow of the solar storm cycle. Learn about the lifecycle of a solar storm, from its emergence on the solar surface to its impact upon some aspect of our lives.
Transportation: What’s Next?
From the invention of the wheel in 3500 BC to the first locomotive in 1814, from the first hot air balloon in 1783 to the space shuttle in 1981, transportation has changed the way we view the world and the universe and brought us closer to our friends and family far and near. Will we meet our neighbors from other planets at some point? To find out, we will examine the engineering and physics behind advances in transportation. We’ll build planes, balloons and rockets and then peer into the future to see what options modern physics gives us for future travel into space.
Mathematics
Martian Math with Python Programming
Travel through time to an era when humans travel to bases on Mars.
We’ll use Python, an object oriented computer language, to explore the geometry behind geodesic spheres and domes and learn about our solar system.
Learn basic programming concepts such as data types and data structures, conditionals and loops, object oriented programming, graphical user interfaces animation and sounds. Design games, run websites, explore mathematical concepts, and analyze data. Supercharge your programming skills as you learn the software Star Wars animators, Google engineers, and game designers use to make their projects a success!
Math in Science Fiction
Is the portrayal of mathematics in science fiction accurate or confused, legitimate speculation or mere technobabble?
From secret codes to the alternative number systems found on fictional worlds, mathematics is an important aspect of Science Fiction and fantasy stories. We will explore math concepts found in science fiction novels, short stories, and movie clips by authors including Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Tom Godwin, Robert Heinlein, Ursula LeGuin, Carl Sagan, and Mark Twain. Using mathematical formulas and working with ratios and proportions, dimensional analyses, irrational numbers, alternate bases, permutations, and more, we will create and perform our mathematical science fiction.
Math: The View from Space
Change your perspective! What might a visitor from outer space see?
What would they consider the surface of the Earth? Would they see humans as the dominant species? We view Earth through the human perspective of maps and globes - while honing our math skills, we will now look at and describe our planet from the perspective of travelers in the universe. Taking this alternate view means examining our math assumptions. We will investigate how triangles help us measure, geometry on a sphere, how you use coordinates to map a celestial body that has no poles, how our choice of scales affects our perception, how the ratios in our frame of reference change what we see and how orders of magnitude affect our understanding.
Newton’s Gravity
Houston, we have an equation!
Learn about the mysterious power of gravitation so you can understand how planets, moons, asteroids and comets move in their orbits through space. Then step into the moon boots of a NASA engineer as you learn to think like a space scientist and puzzle through problems involved in getting to the moon or Mars. You will be the astronomer or physicist in charge of the space mission as you use your algebra and geometry skills to derive equations of gravitation, escape velocity, and orbital motion. As you develop each mathematical concept, you will test them with real observational data. The emphasis will be on enjoyable, group interactive problem solving and discovery using actual space phenomena for each case study.
Puzzles, Games and Codes
All new codes, puzzles and games! Solve fiendishly clever puzzles, learn new codes and play classic games.
Discover the secret strategies behind puzzles as your solve KenKen, Hanjie and Tangrams. Learn the tools and tactics for playing classic games such as Pente, Mancala and Shut The Box. Write, decode and discover the secrets behind famous and not-so-famous codes such as Lattice, Book Code, Garbo and the secret ciphers of Lewis and Clark.
Creative and Language Arts Acting: Solar Scenes
Polish your acting and presentation skills while exploring the physical and mythological characteristics of planets in our solar system.
We will take an improvisational tour of our solar system stopping to meet our planetary neighbors. This class will teach you critical thinking and problem solving skills as you physicalize the facts you learn about our solar system. We will use the Greek Gods who represent the planets, perhaps Mighty Mars, known for his red hair and mountain climbing skills, or “Lovely Venus” who moves very slowly and has a rather peculiar odor will become the characters in short scenes. The final theatre sketches will be presented to family on the last day of camp.
Architecture on Mars
Learn what it takes to design meaningful architectural space where people live and work, even if it is on Mars.
What would buildings look like on another planet? In this architecture workshop, you will look at alien environments through the eyes of an architect. We will need to take into consideration the production and storage of the things necessary for life, food, water and oxygen as well as protection from radiation and the climate. Architecture must successfully meld form and function, so we will explore architectural principles and develop design and drafting skills to create site plans, floor plans, elevations and models of an alternate home in the Universe
Painting the Planets and Beyond
Explore the universe through Hubble’s eye. View spectacular color photographs of stars, planets, galaxies, and nebulae then translate those images into unique abstract paintings. By using an air brush, color pencils and oil pastels you will illustrate your rendition of the solar system. Take inspiration from "Blue Mysteries Near the Sun, No.4."and present your view of the mysterious depths of the cosmos.
Radio Waves
News Flash! In 1938, millions of Americans turned on their radios to discover that Martians had invaded Earth. Panic ensued.
The radio play “War of the Worlds was so dramatic people thought it was a real news show.
Wanted: a dedicated crew to write and perform a drama even more thrilling than “The War of the Worlds”! After writing and brainstorming ideas, you and your sci-fi mates will produce a podcast to share with family and friends Necessary qualifications: the willingness to learn how to make your own sound effects, especially lasers. An ability to operate Garage Band is a plus.
Science Fiction
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”
As the opening line from the Star Wars saga illustrates, Science Fiction and Fantasy stories often take us to other corners of the universe. Learn to create a believable alternate world as you let your imagination explore the future and journey to distant planets. You will learn how to generate steller ideas and bring them to life with bold characters, vital plots visionary technologies, and vivid settings. Write stories and create artwork while exploring the possibilities of alien life, sentient computers and time machines.
Sounds From the Universe
Throughout human history, the majesty of the cosmos has inspired us to create great works of art. In this class you will learn about music and songs created in honor of the celestial bodies that cross our sky. By Friday you will have your own electronic music score produced for your enjoyment and to share with family and friends.
Space Claymation
Explode into the outer reaches of the farthest galaxy, leaving gravity and earthly problems behind! Build an alien puppet of your own design out of wire and clay and let your imagination travel light years away. Through the Claymation technique of Stop Motion Animation, we will bring your otherworldly creatures to life against the backdrop of a strange and distant planet. Produce a short video clip to show off on You Tube.
Thinking Critically
Fine-tune your critical thinking skills as you examine the mysteries of the cosmos.
This class doesn’t focus on what to think, but on how to approach thinking. Strong critical thinking skills can transform and expand your problem-solving capabilities. Techniques for constructing and deconstructing arguments will be emphasized as you delve into questions about the size and scale of the universe, space and time and the life cycles of the stars. The class will introduce the rudiments of critical thinking: logical fallacies, causation versus correlation, basic syllogisms, and informal fallacies. Practice debates will give you the opportunity to hone your debating and critical thinking skills.
Time’s Narrative
Time has puzzled people for… well, a long time. To paraphrase Augustine: “If nobody asks me about it, I know what time is. But if I have to explain time to someone, I don’t know how to do it.” Come and explore how scientists, philosophers and artists have described the nature of time and how time is relative to our place in the universe. We’ll build water clocks to understand time’s “flow”, use flipbooks to see temporal discreteness, and imagine how prehistoric peoples might have thought about time. Along the way, we’ll use our new ideas of time to help us become better writers. Time has a narrative, which we’ll harness to tell some stories of our own.
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