Splash Archives: Past Classes

This will be an informal creative writing workshop with an emphasis on freeform poetry. We will undertake various exercises that stimulate creative thought in poetic souls. We will explore the art of group storytelling, develop sensitivity to the senses, abound in alliteration, and venture into Slam poetry. Come prepared to experiment, to be unreservedly creative, to develop your personal writing skills, and to appreciate the beauty and artistry of your peersÕ work. Come, be inspired, and discover your own profundity.

This class is designed as a beginner introduction to fundamental concepts of computer programming and a quick survey of the C programming language. General programming concepts will be fleshed out through concrete examples in C. Topics covered will include: data types, flow control, functions, recursion, pointers.

Students will be provided with a very basic knowledge of Arabic structure as well as the most elementary conversational phrases of this beautiful language through a series of discussions and activities involving student interaction as well as different types of media.

It seems like more companies every day are going organic, or at least trying to look like it: even Lay's now has "all natural" potato chips in a hippie-friendly brown bag. But are they doing it because they really care? The answers are mixed, but here's a hint: it's not always about altruism. We'll talk about everything from ethanol cars to modern design to backyard-grown veggies.

We will discuss the history, science, and ethics that went into creating the atomic bomb, and we will also take a look at the art associated with these issues, including the Henry Moore sculpture that's right on the U. of C.'s campus! Bring your sneakers and something to draw with, and cross your fingers for good weather so we can go outside!

This class is meant to be an introduction to the US Supreme Court. We will be talking about how a justice is supposed to think, basing decisions on precedent and an objective reading of the law. We will also discuss the personal ideologies that can influence that thinking. Throughout, we will be debating actual Supreme Court decisions on matters ranging from free speech to privacy rights to affirmative action. To culminate, we will simulate an oral argument before the Court with class participants acting as attorneys or justices. The prerequisites for this class were: Aimed at students in grades 10-12 with some knowledge of US government and history, but all are welcome.

This will be an informal creative writing workshop with an emphasis on freeform poetry. We will undertake various exercises that stimulate creative thought in poetic souls. We will explore the art of group storytelling, develop sensitivity to the senses, abound in alliteration, and venture into Slam poetry. Come prepared to experiment, to be unreservedly creative, to develop your personal writing skills, and to appreciate the beauty and artistry of your peersÕ work. Come, be inspired, and discover your own profundity.

Students will be introduced to the culture of Jordan by a teacher who has just returned from an eleven week stay in this beautiful Middle Eastern country! A very brief history and geography lesson will set the stage for a discussion and sampling of various cultural elements (dress, food, religion, etc.) and the corresponding ways in which visiting westerners may have to adapt in order to fit into and better appreciate Jordanian culture.

Why is thinness attractive? Why is it much rarer for women to have multiple husbands than men to have multiple wives? Why do male peacocks have such long and fancy tails, while female peacocks are brown and ugly? Here, we introduce evolutionary psychology - a study of how we've come to think the way we do, the evolution of species inside and out.

This will be a rapid introduction to the Lambda Calculus, a theoretical model of computing originally proposed by Alonzo Church in the 1930s. We will explore how, starting from the barest primitive ideas, you can derive all the comutational power of a modern desktop computer! NOTE: This is not the calculus you've heard about in school! In fact, there are almost no numbers involved, and you don't need to know any math - just have a curiosity for some slightly abstract reasoning.