Splash! 2008
Course Catalog

(NOTE: We have now fixed lunch registration. If you chose an option other than the one you want, please log back in and change your registration to the option you prefer, if you can. Thanks!)

Remember, lunch is free!

Pick this lunch option if you are not a vegetarian, and would like to eat a lunch that is not vegetarian. (You will have some further choice on the day of the program between various non-vegetarian options.)

Remember, lunch is free!

Pick this lunch option if you are a vegetarian and would like a vegetarian lunch. (You will have some further choice on the day of the program between various vegetarian options.)

Remember, lunch is free!

Pick this lunch option if you are a vegan and would like a vegan lunch. (You will have some further choice on the day of the program between various vegan options.)

Remember, lunch is free!

Pick this lunch option if you have special dietary needs beyond wanting a vegetarian or vegan lunch. If this is the case, please also email lukejoy@uchicago.edu with the subject line "Splash Dietary Needs". Include your full name, and a description of what kind of lunch you require.

Pick this lunch option if you are in the Pasta Making class, M250. You will be eating the fresh pasta and sauce that you make in the class. It will be suitable for vegetarians, but not for vegans.

Note: if you are in the Pasta Making class, you must select this lunch option. If you select this lunch option, you must be in the Pasta Making class. The system will not let you register for one without the other.

Always wanted to learn how to knit but thought it looked too hard? This course introduces the basic elements of knitting, giving you all the skills you need to create your very own scarf. And once you can do that, the possibilities are endless (hats, purses, gloves, sweaters!) Expand your creative possibilities with this useful skill. This class is for beginners, no experience is necessary.

Our class will serve as a crash course in sketch comedy! After a brief overview of Chicago's significance in the history of improvisational and sketch theater, we will teach a fully participatory writing and acting class covering all the basics of sketch writing: developing an original premise, creating interesting characters and relationships, and conveying the joke to the audience.

Through a couple of planned examples and a few improvisational theatre exercises to help kickstart the creative process, we hope to show students that everything is funny if you learn to look at it from a certain way. We'll start with events from our own lives and re-tell them in order to reveal what makes them humorous. Because sketches are basically short funny stories told by actors, we'll create sketches in small groups which will perform their ideas at the end of the class.

EVERYONE is welcome, and absolutely no experience is required - just a willingness to learn and a commitment to listen to the ideas of others without taking yourself too seriously.

In this fun class, we'll reintroduce you to your favorite kids' books and teach you about some cool new ones. Whether you like graphic novels or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this is the class for you.

We'll look at the illustrations of Brett Helquist, who worked on the Lemony Snicket series, and Leo and Diane Dillon.

We will end with a chance for you to write and draw your own story!

An opportunity to explore the devices of the Surrealist painter Salvador Dali, and then to incorporate them into your own unique style of art.

Are your pictures always blurry and dark? Do you wonder how you can learn to take better photos?

Introductory Photography will focus on both basic photography techniques and some background on the history of photography. We will go over some photographic composition elements -- things that make a photo look good to the eye. We'll also go over how different photos are made -- from gelatin-silver prints to 35mm film to DSLRs.

This is oriented towards the beginning photographer. Students will have turns taking pictures outside the classroom, and the pictures will be emailed to the student if the student chooses.

Space is limited to 5 per class. Students may feel free to bring cameras or prints of photos they've already taken.

This course will teach students the basics of an Indian dance form called Dandiya Raas. Dancers have a pair of sticks that they hit to their partner's sticks in a rhythmic manner. In this course, we will teach the basic 5-step and more complicated 12-step sequences, as well as a basic background of Dandiya Raas.

This course is for anyone interested in getting their hands dirty. The class is for beginners and will focus on functional ceramics, such as bowls, mugs, vases, plates and pitchers.

Like to act? Wanna try working without a script? Here you can have fun working on improv skills with a variety of acting games and situations. All levels welcome; all you need is a desire to act!

Photography is the only art form whose use widely available to a mass audience: if you can afford it, you can buy a high quality digital camera. But what makes a good photograph, and can photographs even be considered art?

In this class, we'll review the basics of photography, how to improve your photography skills, and various theories arguing, for and against, photography as an art form.

Got a story to tell? All of us do. This class will explore techniques of committing our own life experiences and stories to paper in interesting, compelling non-fiction essays and narrations. Through short passages from works by famous essayists, we will discuss what makes a good story, and then do some writing ourselves.

In this class, you will come to the projection booth of the Doc Films movie theater on campus and learn the basics of projecting movies on film.

We'll walk you through the basics of preparing film, in both 16mm and 35mm format: loading it into the projector, projecting it onto the screen, and more. We'll also talk a bit about the differences between film and digital projection.

And you'll have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have about film projection.

Learn the basics of how to make a movie and actually shoot some footage, which will be produced and made available to the students later on.

First hour and a half: info about filmmaking and learning to use equipment.
next half hour: brainstorm/ write down idea.
last hour: shoot very simple, short movie. We will make guidelines to make sure they are manageable.

Learn how to create origami masterpieces ranging from the classic crane to cubes to the more complex stellated icosahedron.

Generic filler class for people who are validly not in class.

We look at the history of all those "sciences" that either paved the way to modern science or were just entirely wrong, but are still fun to laugh at. From phlogistons, to ether, to eugenics, to astrology, the admirable history of progress began from a sequence of ridiculous ideas, some of which served as catalysts that lead to real scientific progress later on. More importantly, we'll consider what logical mistakes and aspects of human psychology lead people to believe in these pseudosciences. Time allowing, we'll also look at the phenomenon of pseudohistory in modern times, using the modern examples of Holocaust Denial and Afrocentrism . Some of the ideas discussed will be taken from Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions and from Michael Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things, which students do not need to have read beforehand.

Where does your food come from? How does the changing agriculture business affect you and the rest of the country? Learn the difference between sustainable and industrial food production, what organic food labels actually mean, and what you can do to resist the negative effects of factory farming.

Land in cities is valuable because it is close to other people, not because it has intrinsic value from soil quality or beauty, and therefore gains value as the city itself gets richer and as it gets more central to the city. We will talk about the ways in which a piece of land's value depends on the city around it, the way in which land value changes as the city changes, and what that means for a city's inhabitants, both land owners and non land owners.

The World's Greatest Detective. The Dark Knight. The Caped Crusader. The latest "Batman" film cemented his place as the greatest hero in the history of comicdom, and he doesn't even have any powers. How has Batman evolved over the years? What makes Batman tick? How does he do the crazy things he does? This course will analyze Batman by studying his history, psychology, and crime-fighting methodology. Shark-repellent Bat-Spray not included.

An introduction to the unique form(s) of Government that exist here in the United States. From the city and state levels all the way to the Capitol in Washington D.C., hear about how the various levels of Government work and how they all effect you. In addition, what can you do to effect change in your government?: Now and in the future. We'll also look into how elections are conducted in this county, and how that differs amongst the states and even at the federal level. This is obviously an appropriate topic given the upcoming federal and state election on Nov. 4th, but this will be important in your life for decades to come.

In this class, we'll look at The Communist Manifesto (1848), co-written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, to understand the meaning and legacy of social revolution. Considered one of the most important documents of our era, the Manifesto continues to influence trade unionists, politicians, artists, students, scientists and revolutionaries. It has influenced the feminist, anti-slavery, black power, anti-colonization, and gay liberation movements. Marx's critique of capitalism and modern society continue to be fundamental to our understanding of the modern of world.

What is a revolution? Why do we care? How does our understanding of history help understand not only the past, but also our possibilities for the future? These important questions are rarely asked in public or in schools. People usually claim a "revolution" is impossible or that it inevitably ends in failure, and there are some bad experiences to back this up. The original idea, however, was essentially about making progress through expanding human freedom. As long as freedom continues to be a political concern, The Communist Manifesto will remain an important reference to everyone concerned with the struggle for freedom.

We'll explore these topics and more through short lectures, discussions, readings, and group activities. Copies of the text will be made available, and it can be found online (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/). This class will be valuable to anyone interested in philosophy, history, politics or literature.

An introduction to basic economics. Topics to be covered:

Supply and demand

Why are gas prices so high, and will they come back down?

Interest rates

And others...

In this class we will discuss the legacy of liberatory education that arose out of the Mississippi Freedom Schools in 1964. Out of this conversation we will examine Chicago Public Schools and discuss specific policy changes that could make school more liberating for Chicago's youth.

Students will be introduced to the Arabic alphabet, learn how to construct words and some of the basic grammar skills of the Arabic language.

Are you feeling lost in all the political discussions this fall? Or are you eager to spend an hour talking about the election with other young people?

Either way, this class is for you!

What do Obama and McCain stand for? What's the difference between Democrats and Republicans, anyway? What about healthcare, supreme court justices, taxes, gay marriage?! We'll spend the first half of the class answering these questions and more.

After this introduction, it will be time for YOU to discuss your thoughts and opinions with the rest of the class. This class is in your hands, and the environment will be casual, respectful, interested, and fun!

After the first world war, Germany was a broken nation. Massive economic, political, and social crises ravaged the country as it attempted to rebuild itself, giving way to some of the greatest art, music, and drama of the 20th Century. This class is a political, social, and cultural exploration of this dangerous era, its legacy, and the great catastrophe that followed it.

Ever wonder why and how people dig up ancient civilizations? This course will teach the basics of locations, research, tools and methods, stratigraphy, the importance of conservation, and big questions in the field.

In this class we will discuss how the marginalization of peoples, governmental policies /laws, and modern capitalism each play a role in creating the urban poor as we know it in America. In this class we will start off by summarizing text including: Black Skin White Mask, Freakonomics, Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor, Naked Economics, and Essay’s by Cornell West. We will also show various clips of Milton Friedman’s Free to Chose series from youtube.com. Students will then participate in an open discussion as to how we can solve these issues that are affecting the poorest members of society. Students are encouraged to draw from their personal experiences. The goal of the class is for the student to believe that they can do something to change their communities and help deter the inequality in our urban areas.

Students will learn the basics about journalism. how to write in a journalistic style, what to write about, how to do interviews, what's important when asking questions or arriving on a scene, and write articles about Splash! after conducting some interviews.

Journalist Franklin Foer published a book in 2004 entitled How Soccer Explains the World. He attempted to uncover the relationships the sport has had with social, political, and economic trends across the globe. In this course I will explore this topic further by connecting soccer with various historical events in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Ultimately I hope to display the ways in which a sport can be used towards analyzing a variety of historial topics from totalitarianism to globalization.

Since the end of the cold war, the United States of America has enjoyed a status as the world’s only superpower. That era is rapidly coming to a close. We will discuss the challenges facing America on military, economic, and cultural fronts, and formulate ideas for how our generation can solve them.

On the military front, America’s traditional military supremacy is under threat from a reinvigorated Russia and a newly powerful China. Nuclear proliferation is rapidly changing the landscape for mutually assured destruction, providing more nation-states with a nuclear deterrent. Meanwhile, international terrorism is changing the rules, allowing individuals and small groups to challenge nations.

On the economic front, America’s infrastructure is rapidly falling behind. The disaster after Katrina, the bridge collapse in Minnesota, the lack of effective mass transit, all lead to the inescapable conclusion that America is trying to build a 21st century nation on 20th century infrastructure. Financial institutions are moving from New York to Hong Kong and London. Technology companies are building facilities in China, India and Taiwan rather than Silicon Valley. We need immediate and large-scale improvements to continue our storied history of economic and technological leadership.

On the cultural front, it can no longer be said that American citizenship is a passport to the world. Our country is seen more for our military than for our freedoms—people see the Pentagon rather than the Statue of Liberty.

Where is our country going? And where do we fit in? What can you and I do to address these problems of the world?

Let us gather to discuss these issues. If you think I am wrong, come and tell me. If you have ideas, bring them to the discussion. This is not, nor should it be a lecture, and I expect full participation of everybody in the room.

You all live in, or at least in the vicinity of the city of Chicago. But each of you know your city from a different perspective, and in a different way. This class will be about the city of Chicago, and also more broadly about cities, how they're designed, how they work, and how they change. It'll be a mix of history, art, architecture and design, drawing, telling stories, and conversation.

Some topics we may discuss are: Daniel Burnham's original plan for the city of Chicago, the Chicago grid system, neighborhoods/wards of the city and how they're defined, architecture of the city, especially recent architecture, and the potential Chicago 2016 Olympics. We only have two hours, though, so we probably won't cover everything on this list, but we'll try our best and talk about what seems most interesting to everyone.

Be ready to talk a lot in this class, especially about your own experience of Chicago, and feel free to come with questions or ideas. Also be ready to draw; pens and paper will be provided.

Learn greetings and some basic dialogue in the language of Leonardo DaVinci. No experience required!

This course is mainly geared towards students taking or that have an interest in Spanish language/history (Latin American history) courses in which they have been exposed to various latin american writers such as; Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Julio Cortazar and Jorge Luis Borges among others. This course will present the backdrops of why a novel such as "One hundred Years of Solitutde" was written. The course will help students understand why latin american writers in the 20 th century have focussed on the latin american society in particular and why specific events in the authors lives have been influential towards their writings. Many believe that writers just write because they can, however latin american writers write because they witnessed and in this course I will like the student to know what they witnessed.

This course will present a practical introduction to America's criminal justice system. We will present useful information related to dealing with law enforcement, lawyers and other important issues.

As a class we would take a close look at the nations of Georgia, Iran, Britain, China, and Iraq, and analyze their influence in their respectative regions and what that influences means for the United States.

Visual communication sits at the intersection of art, science, writing, statistics and engineering.

This class is an introduction to what is called rational graphic design. Our goal is to use the elements of art to help us understand complicated ideas. We will cover the basics of how to say things with pictures, and why you should know graphic design even if you don't think you'll need it.

There will be a hands-on element of this class, though no prior artistic or design experience is necessary.

(For students who are interested in developing these ideas further, with an eye towards scientific applications, there will be a second course covering scientific visualization with this one as a pre-requisite.)

This course will present a basic introduction to investing. We will begin with broader, portfolio-oriented questions, such as "why invest?" and "what are stocks, bonds, etc?" Then we will focus on stocks, asking why stocks are valuable, and looking at a stock to see if it is worth its price. The last quarter of the class will be devoted to questions about investing and the current investing climate. Some of the course will be math-oriented, but advanced knowledge is not necessary.

Mock Trial is a competitive activity that blends legal strategy and analysis with public speaking and performance. Students take the roles of attorneys and witnesses, developing arguments for both sides of a fictional case. This seminar will introduce students to the basics of creating and presenting speeches and witness examinations, as well as allow students to try their own hand at developing questions and arguments for a case.

The objective of this course will be to learn the basics of pasta-making from scratch. Students will be asked to prepare pre-arranged quantities of ingredients (including flour, salt, eggs and water) into a final product. We will also cook the pasta and create an accompanying sauce, so that students may partake in and enjoy the comprehensive pasta experience.

Note: if you take this class, the pasta that you make will also be your (free) lunch for the day. You will not be allowed to register for this class without also registering for the pasta lunch option, and vice versa. Drinks and sides will of course be provided in addition to the pasta you make. The pasta and sauce will be suitable for vegetarians, but not vegans.

Information on how to search for and apply to colleges from an admissions counselor at the University of Chicago. Advice on applying and financial aid and scholarship options. Bring your questions!

Learn about money with buy-and-sell games. Students will be given pennies to spend, borrow, loan, and invest.

Possible topics include budgeting, borrowing, interest rates, credit cards, and investing. If time allows, we'll talk about the subprime meltdown and some practical matters concerning college financial aid forms.

This class is meant mainly for underclassmen. It's meant to provide advice and instruct on the idea of "Creative" writing. "Creative " writing is to help students think on their feet and to create arguments and discussion with limited information.

Class will be partially lecture, but mostly discussion oriented.

What do we expect when we cough up $35-$60 for a video game and what ought we expect? Are video games a form of entertainment or pieces of art to reflect upon?

We will explore how video games differentiate themselves from other media and what could be required of such a peculiar industry if it wants to take advantage of these qualities (i.e. interactivity, the problematic, rules, fun, and princesses).

We will also want to take a look at the role that the military and the original video game demographic back in the '70s and '80s have affected what we now see as norms in video games.

Those brave of heart and strong of thumb are strongly encouraged to enroll.

In this class, we will make ice cream while simultaneously exploring the bizarre science behind making cold. How to heat something up has been understood for millenia -- try rubbing two sticks together really fast -- but how to make something cool has baffled great thinkers for centuries.
The first people able to "generate cold" were thought to be magicians. If you want to learn some of the surprising science behind the magic, play cold potato with the noble goal of making ice cream, investigate the strange properties of liquid nitrogen, see a nail get hammered into a board with a banana, learn how animals deal with the intense cold of the Arctic and Antarctic, and explore other amazing physical feats of cold, this class is for you. If you'd like to soak your head in a bucket of water instead (Chicago summers are hot!), at least take time to thank evaporative cooling. Hope to see you there!

Do you have an itch to get out and see the world? Thinking of backpacking around Europe or India, or maybe volunteering at an orphanage in Indonesia? Come learn the basics of how to travel internationally, from visas to packing to getting around and making friends when you get there.

Beyond the basics, this class is geared towards dealing with the difficulties of traveling by yourself (or in small groups) in the third world. Much of the material is suitable for travel to developed countries as well. We will cover the basics of bargaining, dealing with insurmountable language barriers, how to handle beggars and how to avoid being taken advantage of by unscrupulous persons.

Many of the sections on specifically third-world travel will include a role playing segment to give you practical skills in dealing with things on the road. Bring some questions and a desire to see the world.

This course will begin by outlining some of the arguments made by Friedrich Nietzsche in On The Genealogy of Morality, primarily his discussion of the shift from the old, “noble” morality to the modern “slave” morality and his discussion of asceticism. This will be used to examine the devolution of the human form in art, from the Classical ideals of ancient Greece and the Renaissance, and continuing through to the fractured and abstract depictions in Cubism and Modern art.

It will be divided between two portions, a lecture to introduce the concept, and a discussion afterwards for further examination.

Did you ever wonder why bread has little holes in it? How is it that cupcakes rise? Why does an egg change colours when you cook it? These and more questions essential to science in the kitchen, answered!

PQ: A basic science background

"He's the leader of the bunch.  You know him well."  Donkey Kong was one of gaming's first icons.  Starting with  Donkey Kong in 1981, the well-dressed D.K. has swung, punched, and clapped his way into a variety of genres, including platforming, fighting, racing, and even rhythm games.  Join us in this Kong quest as we examine the career of this amazing ape and the history of one of the world's most successful companies, Nintendo. Get N or get out.

Tour campus with University of Chicago students!

Have you ever wanted to be magician? Have you ever wanted to amaze and astound your friends, family (and on-lookers)? Then this class is for you. In this class, we will learn simple card tricks, techniques and methods that you will be able to use to impress others, and create your own magic tricks.

This class is designed to be an introduction to magic tricks for beginners. If you know some magic tricks, you will be welcome, but you probably won't learn much from it.

This will be a class giving an overview of the fifth largest religion in the world, Sikhism, and seeks to educate on the differences in religion in order to prevent sterotyping.

Have you ever wanted to write something but didn't feel you knew the words to use? Have you ever wanted to write about something sad? Funny? Informative?

In this class, we'll take a relaxed approach to practicing putting words on paper, and we might laugh or cry a little bit in the meantime. We might also (like we did last year) write love letters to Chris Brown. This year, anything goes.

This course will have two parts. For the first half, we'll talk about how the Supreme Court functions and how it makes decisions. We'll also review how the 14th Amendment--which guarantees equal protection of the laws--has been interpreted since it was passed after the Civil War. We'll discuss and debate specific cases dealing with issues such as segregation and affirmative action.

The second half of the course will be a simulation of a Supreme Court case dealing with a modern 14th Amendment issue. Students will take roles as either attorneys arguing the case for the two sides or as a justice asking questions and deciding the case.

This class is an introduction to the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Covering the time period between approximately 1500 A.D - 1600 A.D. in Europe, we will examine the key players in the movement along with the particular cultural, economic, political, and theological reasons that gave rise to the Protestant Reformation.

Every day, Communication is necessary - with teachers, parents, friends, employers. In each of these situations, persuasion is power. According to Aristotle, rhetoric is "the ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion." We'll be exploring how Aristotle's philosophies can help us with everything from school presentations to talking with friends.

Since the introduction of cinema at the turn of the 20th century, many critics and moviegoers have explored what makes films interesting, entertaining, and valuable as artworks. In this class, we will review the basic elements of film and watch important examples from the history of cinema.

This class will explain the electoral process today, and the history of how it became what it is - a pretty salient topic, given the upcoming Presidential election!

In this course, we'll work toward determining the literary features that make a story a fairy tale (and discuss why many fairy tales don't feature fairies at all!). We'll then analyze how fairy tales have influenced literature, popular culture, and our perceptions and understandings of human interactions.

This class will focus on the Prince, and will look to talk about the nature of the character created by Niccolo Machiavelli. This will promote discussion as to the morality of the Prince and whether or not such a politician is beneficial to the people. There will be comparisons of Machiavelli in contemporary times, most notably with Tupac Shakur.

The aim of this course is to provide an overview of some of the major skills helpful in convincing others of your point of view in a public setting. For the first part of the class, we'll discuss logic, rhetoric, and other tools of persuasion. For the second, we'll put that theory to practice as students take part in exercises (speeches and mini-debates) about topics that interest them.

The camera is an incredibly powerful tool, freezing a moment in time and taking us places we could never go. Today, almost two centuries after the first the first photograph, we are inundated with pictures - even our phones have cameras! Join me as we examine the technological developments that made the camera possible, discuss the ways in which this revolutionary medium developed, and explore the history of mankind since 1826 through the camera's eye.

Learn the Greek alphabet and begin to read Greek! This class will introduce the very basics of Greek as it was spoken in ancient Athens.

Fiction for modern audiences has branched away from novels into plays, short stories, and screenplays. Explore the compelling tactics modern writers are using to attract and hold an unconventional audience's attention, including reading short stories that top the New York Times' Best Sellers List and reading portions of scripts that become box office gold.

Some of the allotted time will be spent workshopping.

A stereotypical English class will involve reading prose and poetry from various periods. Students will be introduced to poets such as William Shakespeare, John Donne and others who use more or less, obscure references to beliefs of bygone empires. These references may range from gods and goddesses to mythological creatures or even to imaginary tales of heroic venture and enchanting lands. As a high school scholar, your job is to analyze whatever is given and some allusions to Greek and Roman mythology might actually be quite vital to understanding the piece as a whole. The thing is, not many people still remember these interesting little facts, but oddly enough it will still be a student's responsibility to know them. So the question becomes, would you like to waste what little social time you have looking up obscure allusions or simply memorize them in a two hour session basically and continue on with your business?

Beginner's introduction to using Photoshop: basic tools, filters, etc. Please bring an image that you would like to edit, either as a link to an image online or on a CD or flash drive.

What's a good strategy for counting stars? Can a fair voting system be designed? How can math be used to rig an election? How does Google find you the page you wanted? Can you predict the tosses of a coin accurately? This roller-coaster talk looks at regular real-life questions and combines simple math with an understanding of the human mind to reveal interesting answers.

You've probably all heard of Microsoft Windows, and you may have heard of Linux, its main competitor, as well. Linux is appearing everywhere: it's on everything from high-end cellphones to cheap WalMart laptops to high-performance Web servers.

But, what exactly is Linux? In the first half of the course, we'll look at it technically: why it's cool, and why it's so powerful and flexible. In the second half, we'll take a look at a Linux desktop system and learn how to use it.

In this class we'll go over the basics of Python (a relatively easy-to-learn computer programming language) from the very beginning. We'll look at some of the awesome things you can do in Python,starting from the most simple - making your computer say "hi!" - and building up the tools to make something a bit more complicated.

For people who have some experience with calculus.

"Limit as x approaches a" means that 'x' gets really close to 'a'---right?

Well, sort of. That's the basic idea, but actually 'limit' has a much more precise mathematical meaning. "x gets really close to a" is just way too vague--what do those words mean?

I'll explain the definition of 'limit', and if there's time remaining I'll show you what 'derivative' actually means.

You might have seen Pascal's triangle at some point in your math classes. If not, you can find a picture of it here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pascal%27s_Triangle_rows_0-16.svg. The triangle is built by placing 1's along the edges of the triangle, and then adding together adjacent pairs of numbers and placing their sum beneath them in the next row.

So what. This gives us a pile of numbers. Big deal.

Well yes, this is a pile of numbers. But this is also a very interesting pile of numbers. Try adding up the digits in each row -- you'll always get a power of 2. Try reading each of the first 5 rows as a single number -- you'll get a power of 11 every time. And what's with the triangular numbers running down the third diagonals? These are just a few of the many patterns you can uncover in the triangle.

In this class, we'll figure out why all of these unexpected patterns occur by answering a single question: "In how many ways can I choose k objects from a set of n objects?"

You might have heard that every one of your computer's actions, both simple and complicated, can be boiled down to moving around bunches of 0s and 1s. In this class, we will look at some of the ways that a list of 0s and 1s can be interpreted as a letter, an image, or even a movie, and how these encodings can be used to do sneaky things like send secret messages. Topics that we will probably cover include: The binary number system, ASCII, basic image encoding and steganography, and, if we have time, we will try to give an actual definition of information. It should be possible to understand most of the big ideas from this course without any exceptional Mathematics or Computer Science background, but having completed a second year of Algebra will make things much easier to follow. Note that we will not actually be using computers in this class, but rather looking at the "language" that makes computing possible.

How do computers "think?" If you ever want to understand that, you need to come up with a good way to model them: to say exactly what they can do, and how. In this class, you'll get to work with a model of computers called "finite automata." You'll design some of them yourself and test out what they can do; then you'll get a chance to prove results about the limits of their abilities. This functions as a first introduction to a field called "theoretical computer science," and I'll talk a little bit at the end of the class about a model of computation called a Turing machine, which is just as powerful as any computer you might use --- then I'll mention some problems that Turing machines, and your own computer, can't solve at all.

What is the process for making a blockbuster drug? We will look at surprising stastics related to the pharmaceutical industry, look at some of the science behind drug discovery, and brainstorm the issues the industry will continue to face. Discussion based, be prepared to express your opinion about this big industry.

This course covers the basics of prosimian, monkey, and ape behavior, focusing on the diverse social and mating systems in the primate order. What is the difference between a monkey and an ape? How do they live together and find mates? What are the biggest problems facing them today, and what can you do to help? Come and find out!

We're going to dive right in to the most massive objects in our universe--billions of times the mass of the sun. (No, we won't actually dive into a black hole--its hard to get out).

When small stars die, they peter out. When massive stars die, they explode in supernovas, outshining an entire galaxy, and whats left is a black hole, a singularity of mass so dense that even light is trapped behind. We'll tour around a few black holes, study their effect on our daily lives, and of course, the seven ways a black hole can kill you. I'll venture into wormholes, white holes, and other extoics, and we'll even bring in a sporting interest and talk about how Stephen Hawking once lost a bet on black holes, and how it was related to the ultimate demise and even death of these most mysterious of objects. (Food for thought: how does a black hole die, anyway?)

Be ready to open your minds, to be bent by the curvature of spacetime, and generally to lose yourself in the fun and beauty of the most amazing objects out there in the sky.

As a long time lover of ants (and bees, wasps and termites), I have a lot of information about them and theories about what they can tell us about ourselves and about societies. I want to share this information with you. This class will be a very free roaming discussion about ants, in which we, much like ants, will follow whichever scent trail leads us to the highest quality and most plentiful food (In our case food means student enjoyment; I nourish no man).

Join members of the Ryerson Astronomical Society for a lesson in Solar Observation. We'll use our telescope on the roof of Ryerson Laboratory to observe the sun with projection. We'll also discuss optics and elements of the Sun-Earth relationship.

Have you heard of the Pythagorean Theorem? Have you seen an x-y coordinate system before? That's just about all you need to understand Special Relativity. If you've taken any physics or physical science course before, that will be helpful.

Basically, Special Relativity describes the strange things that happen when objects move really fast. Time and space don't behave the way you'd expect them to. But I won't just tell you what happens--I'll explain to you WHY it happens.

The concepts will be tricky, but the math will just be basic algebra.

Learn about chance! See how probability can help in making decisions and answering fun questions like: If you don't sit in your assigned seat on an airplane, how badly do you screw up the chance of some other passenger sitting in his/her assigned seat? All concepts will be illustrated with interesting examples.

We may also look at how probability connects with genetics and finding cures to diseases. 10-15 min will be devoted to this, subject to change depending on student interest.

Prereqs: This will be an introductory course. You need to be familiar with basic arithmetic and know what a function is. To understand the bio part, you should know what a gene is. Previous exposure to probability and a high school level bio class will help a lot, but are not absolutely necessary. Knowledge of what combinations and permutations are will broaden the examples we can look at.

Do you think you know what anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating are?

Anorexia means will power, right? Isn't bulimia just a creative way to keep tabs on calories? Men don't have eating disorders... or do they?

This course will deal with the misperceptions and symptoms associated with eating disorders. (Lack of) Control, body image, obssession, and misery will be of particular interest as these tend to be among the least understood cognitive components of eating disorders.

We will look at the prevalence and statistics of these disorders among men as well as women. Frequent co-occurring disorders such as major depression, obssessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, and personality disorders will be discussed.

Finally, we will also discuss the current treatment methods that are being used in research clinics at Stanford University, University of Chicago, and University of Washington. Specifically family-based, cognitive behavioural, and dialectical behavioural therapies will be reviewed.

Have you ever been out west, looked up at the sky, and noticed how different it looks than it does here in Chicago? Our comforting orange glow is not a natural product of space, but rather a factor that prevents us from seeing much of it. The few stars you may see in Chicago on a clear night show you less than 1% of what you could really be seeing in a more observing-friendly environment.

This presentation will focus highly on the make-up of our immediate stellar neighborhood, the general structure of our galaxy, observing techniques, and some factors that may inhibit your ability to observe. Additional topics, if time allows, will include our galaxy's relation to galaxies near to us, universal structure, and a few of the more pressing questions about the universe we face today.

How has the universe evolved over the last 10 billion years? Why does the night sky look like it does? How were chemical elements formed in the early universe? Combining the study of the smallest particles with the observation of cosmic-scale clusters of matter, cosmology tries to answer some of the broadest questions about the world around us.

This course is for any students who are interested in science. It will begin with an overview of all knowledge the students will need to participate in the discussions and follow the lectures that will be the main part of this course. There will be question sessions following each topic covered. Essentially, we will be looking at modern physics and its philosophical implications.

Therefore, we will begin with pre-Socratic philosophers and the way they perceived the world. This will bring us to the Pythagoreans and Euclidean geometry, the basis for classical physics. We will then jump ahead to Newton, Des Cartes and the Renaissance. Here we will talk about the historical significance of the period, especially for science. Our last subject will be relativity and quantum theory, which will bring us to the final discussion involving everything we covered throughout the day. I will conclude the lesson with a brief sentiment on the future of science. There will be short breaks throughout, and the emphasis of the course will be on making sure everyone is on the same page.

Learn about the major structures of the mammalian brain and their functions with hands-on dissection!