Fall 2009

The Academic Seniors - Ninth - Eleventh Grades

(Students may take one or two courses)

All courses are offered on Saturday or Sunday unless otherwise noted.

CLOSED (ASS01) Game Theory - Sunday Only: Students will learn the fundamentals of game design and theory with an emphasis on the basic skills, techniques, and disciplines needed for proper statistical parsing, heuristic analysis, playability, flagging, thematic conceptualization, and over-all narrative binding. This course will explore the variety of different types of basic games with concentration on role-play, simulation, and abstraction games in order to provide students with a feel for what different game and gaming concepts are of most interest to them for further, in-depth, study. This course is intended for students who enjoy logic games and problem solving. Students completing this course are prepared for future coursework in economics, electoral politics, advanced algebra, and statistics, and works best when paired with the companion course on Game Production. Instructor: Instructor:Todd Ehrenfels

CLOSED(ASH01)Behavior Psychology - Saturday Only: In this course, we will explore the complex world of human behavior.  Our investigation will include conflict, group processes, individual differences, theories of personality, as well as, behavior disorders.  You will learn a great deal about yourself and others as we discuss a variety of psychological issues. Instructor: Saundra Collins

CLOSED - SUNDAY ONLY: (ASH02) Killer College Essays:Applying to college can be stressful, so let us help make it easier. This course will provide students with the tools to create the “killer college essay” and to stand out in a crowd of applications. No matter what school you are applying to, your essay will speak for you at a time when you need to make a lasting impression. Besides writing a great essay, students will also be given the proper devises to help them with writing assignments for years to come. Instructor: Scott Shaw

CLOSED SATURDAY ONLY(ASS02) Math Skills/SAT: This course will be geared toward improving scores on the SAT math section.  Included in the course will be test-taking techniques and strategies with reinforcement units in arithmetic, algebra, problem solving, basic geometry and quantitative comparison. Instructor (Saturday): Mary Wiley Instructor (Sunday): Nicole Zayatz

(ASS03) Pre Pre Med - Sunday Only: Hands on Anatomy and Physiology Have you ever wondered how your body works or what your organs look like inside your body? This course is designed to provide students who are interested in a pursuing a career in a health or medical field with an understanding of the anatomy of the human body and the physiology of its systems. Students will have the opportunity to perform hands on lab dissections on a variety of mammalian organs in a Biology laboratory. Students will also gain insight into a variety of medical conditions and the fields that treat them. Instructor: Amy Trott

CLOSED(ASH03) Advanced Clay Techniques - Saturday Only: Students will learn several clay building and sculpture techniques that will exercise multiple channels of their minds. Physical and mathematical properties of clay building will require focus and concentration along with problem solving as they use their imagination to create unique interpretations of utility and form. Students will bring home an assortment of glaze decorated ceramics created during this process. Instructor: Lewis Ayres

CLOSED (ASH04) Personal Web Design for College Applications - Sunday Only: When it comes to information exchange in the present day, the Internet offers the most cutting-edge technologies to make your presence known throughout the world, both personally and professionally. Sharing words, images, and audio content digitally across the Internet is not only becoming increasingly more popular, but has become much more in demand than ever before. From social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, to blogging applications such as Blogspot and Wordpress, people use the Internet to establish their identities: “digital portfolios”, central locations people can be used to market themselves, their interests, and their credentials. Today, colleges and universities are using information found on the Internet to find potential candidates that meet the criteria of students they want to attend their institutions. Some of these institutions are even requiring applicants to create a personal web page as part of the application process—not only for admission, but for specific courses of study as well. Do you have a personal web site? A candidate who has a professional-looking, well-designed web page, that’s easy to read, navigate, and access information from, will make colleges and universities think twice about their application. Later, when it comes time for graduation, your personal web page can be shown to prospective employers when applying for employment. In this class, you will learn how to create personal web pages with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Dreamweaver. You will learn how to create your page in two ways: graphically, and using computer languages such as HTML that form the foundation of your web page. You will then learn how to upload your web content to a server that’s connected to the Internet, so everyone can see your web page when they enter its address in their web browsers. Instructor: Craig Hatler

(ASS04) Green Challenge - Saturday Only: Environmental Issues and Careers Students will use brainstorming, problem-solving and decision-making skills, while preparing for the work-force of the future.  Students will discover careers in green industries as they are immersed in collaborative, interdisciplinary, technology-rich experiences.  Understand the connections between society, economy and the environment, and participate in real-world environmental situations that affect local communities.  Instructor: James Verrengia

CLOSED SATURDAY ONLY: (ASH06) Verbal SAT: The new SAT verbal test places greater emphasis on the reading comprehension and sentence completion secions of the test. Success on the test, like success in school work, requires solid skills in critical reading and critical thinking. This revised verbal SAT preparation course emphasizes those analytical language skills. There is significant carryover to all other subjects studied in school. Instructor: Joanne Owens

CLOSED: (ASS07) Cryptography Math & Codes - Saturday Only: Cryptography can be defined as the conversion of data into a scrambled code that can be deciphered and sent across a public or private network. Once used largely in military operations, cryptography safeguards our identities in today's Information Age in which the security of communications and commerce becomes more and more important. Underlying the birth of modern cryptography is a great deal of fascinating mathematics. This course will introduce the history of cryptography, its development from the ancient art of codes and ciphers, basic concepts and underlying mathematics, and several simple cryptosystems. Students will discover the origins of encoding and decoding as they create new codes and decode the projects of their fellow students. Using basic mathematics, such as modular arithmetic, divisibility theorems, factorization and exponents, students will raise the level of their mathematical skills, critical thinking, and logical reasoning. Instructor: Aihua Li

(ASH05) The Art of Critical Reading - Saturday Only: This course offers readers and writers the vocabulary to critically dissect passages of closely-written prose. Each week, students will dive into a piece of literary genius and analyze it so individuals can put the phrase puzzles back together in a personal way to see the writing with a fresh perspective.  This course zooms onto the details: the dramatic power of great sentences; the magic of vocabulary; and the richness of metaphoric description. Students will develop the skills they need to be critical readers, writers, and analytical thinkers while reflecting upon the power of the written word. The experience will change how they read for the rest of their lives! Instructor: Scott Shaw

CLOSED: (ASH07) Arabic: This course will give the student the opportunity to converse, read and write the fastest growing language in the United States. It is designed to introduce students to the Arabic language and culture simultaneously. By the end of the course students will have the basic knowledge to carry on conversations and write short texts in Arabic. Instructor: John Soueid

CLOSED(ASS05) Exploration of the Fantastic - Sunday Only: This course will explore a variety of science fiction and fantasy styles in order to provide students with the elements of writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories with an emphasis on the skills, techniques, and disciplines needed for proper world-building, character definition, and plot analysis.  Students will analyze and discuss the works of Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, William Gibson, Stephen King, and others to gain a better understanding of the principles of storytelling in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror genres.  Students will learn the most important, defining features of each different aspect of the genres through writing projects, while participating in dynamic classroom discussions. Instructor: Todd Ehrenfels

CLOSED (ASS06) Game Production - Sunday Only: Do you like to play games? Do you have a vision for a game—any type of game—that you think will be totally awesome? It could involve slaying dragons, defending the planet from evil aliens, or racing across the country in motorcycles to win the big jackpot prize. No concept is off limits, and with computer technology at your fingertips it makes bringing your game to life even easier! Related mathematics and theory will become the foundation of your creation. You will create a complete, physical game product, going through the development process from start to finish. We will play different types of games to get an idea of their purposes, and the means they use to achieve those purposes. We will use graphic manipulation, page layout and desktop publishing software to create the components of your original games, from boards and cards to instruction manuals. We will also discuss methods of playing games, as well as the ethics and courtesy of playing games with your friends.
Let the games begin! Instructor: Craig Hatler

(ASSD1) 3D Character Animation and Design - Sunday Only: Ever wanted to create a new character or monster for your favorite video game?  This course is a hands-on, creative learning experience on how to create a 3D character from scratch.  Starting from learning the basics of a major 3D modeling program called Blender, to creating a fully animated character straight from your own minds.  We will also learn how to analyze game art in an already existing game, and learn how to create and adapt a brand new character into that game. Instructor: Nicholas Sacino