Droplet Winter 2024
Course Catalog

Music in video games is not just a background element, but an important part of game experiences and its own ever-developing art form. This class is taught by a practicing video game composer in the indie game world. On the history side, this course explores the evolving technology of game soundtracks through the decades, from chiptune to today. We will discuss how technological limitations influence the form and style of VGM. We will also talk about ideas of nostalgia, aesthetic, and postmodernism. Examples may include Undertale, Celeste, Shovel Knight, Paper Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, and more. No music theory background required, only a love of games and their soundtracks!

Does going to college make you smarter? Does cold weather give you a cold? Did your Super Bowl ad generate sales? Do certain Taylor Swift songs make you sad?

In this course, you will not learn the answers to these questions. Instead, you will learn about causal inference: the art of evaluating if your proposed answer is correct.

This course will explore what causality is. We will discuss the difference between correlation and causation. We will touch on some common pitfalls you might fall into when drawing causal conclusions from real world data. We will also touch on some techniques for avoiding the pitfalls of in a laboratory setting and in the real world. Above all, we hope that you will get better at articulating skepticism when answering all kinds of questions, or even just when reading the news.


Prerequisites
Curiosity and critical thinking

Have you ever passed the gateway at Wentworth and Cermak? You might have noticed four golden Chinese characters written on the intricately decorated arch, on each side. In addition to their verbal content, these characters celebrate Chinese calligraphy in a highly public setting.

Calligraphy is an important part of the Chinese cultural heritage. It has become increasingly shared and appreciated for its intrinsic aesthetic value, as much as the aspects of language and culture that it represents. This class will introduce you to the art of Chinese calligraphy, with an emphasis on hands-on activities.

Have you ever been curious about how optical illusions work? In this class we’ll learn how the eye transmits images to the brain and how quirks in this transfer can lead to optical illusions. Students will get to explore several illusions and learn the neuroscience behind them. Finally, students will learn and experience how the brain adapts to optical distortions by playing cornhole with distortion goggles!


Prerequisites
None

Have you ever played football or another contact sport? Have you ever gotten a concussion as a result? In "The Neuroscience Underlying Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and Concussions" we will learn about what happens to our brains when they are concussed, and why concussions can be dangerous. We will also learn more about different types of TBIs and what can cause them.

In the second part of this class, "The Neuroscience and Psychology of Stress", we will answer the questions of: what happens to our brains and bodies when we experience stress? What are certain factors that can make us more likely to experience chronic stress? We will also be examining how stress, imposter syndrome, and self-fulfilling prophecies are linked--and methods of mitigating them.

"The Neuroscience of Death" explores the different ethical and philosophical questions surrounding death and the classification of brain death. What are different ethical dilemmas that arise in classifying brain death? How is brain death declared? Expect to answer these questions and more in this fascinating class.

In the second part of this class, "The Neuroscience of Learning and Sleep" analyzes how important sleep is to learning. Sleep is incredibly important for resting our bodies and our minds/brains. In this class we ponder: what kinds of consolidation occurs when we sleep? How damaging are all-nighters, really?

Have you ever wondered how a single cell makes an entirely functional adult organism? Where do your brain, bones, and heart come from? In this class, we’ll address these questions by discovering fundamental principles of developmental biology. We’ll look at prepared microscope slides of chick embryos to visualize these ideas ourselves, and extend these ideas to provide insight into our own development. Come learn about the beautiful processes of development!


Prerequisites
Introductory biology knowledge is required.