Splash Spring Splash 2018
Course Catalog

Let loose, and bring out your creative energy. Improv comedy theater is all about making things up and building a world from scratch with the people around you. In this class, you'll be up on stage, playing fun and bizarre games that will make you funnier.

We'll be looking at how teams, journalists, and fans alike use basic statistics, more sophisticated analytics, and the eye-test to evaluate basketball teams and players, specifically in the NBA. We'll talk about different analyses can lead to wildly different conclusions, and how these different conclusions can impact the success of NBA teams.

Oftentimes, a work of art is praised for its ability to accurately reflect reality. Beginning with artistic movements like surrealism, modernism, and postmodernism, however, the nature of reality became distorted through the use of dreams, illusions, and fantasies. Using Ambrose Bierce's short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" as the focus, along with supplementary material from Franz Kafka's "A Dream" and David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive", we will explore how and why certain artists have chosen to represent reality in such an ambiguous way through close-reading and discussion.

We will explore themes of imperialism in Latinoamérica in the poems "A Roosevelt" by Rubén Darío and "La sirena y el pescador" by Elisa Chavez.

The course will also aim to prepare students taking AP Spanish Literature and Culture for their AP exams, but those with sufficient knowledge of Spanish and interest in poetry are also welcome to attend.


Prerequisites
Knowledge of Spanish.

You've probably heard people claim that a variety of languages are the most difficult to learn - it might be Chinese, or Arabic, or perhaps even English. But what makes a language difficult to learn, and for whom? In this course, we'll learn about the kinds of linguistic diversity that exist in the world, and how they make some languages easier (or harder) to learn for different people!

Veni, vidi, vici! Carthago delenda est! Carpe diem!

Come learn about Latin verbs! We'll discuss the forms that Latin verbs can take, explain how to conjugate some of them, and go through some fun examples.

Gaudiatis mecum igitur! Pro vobis linguam quae sine fine est cognosciatis! ERGO VENITE!


Prerequisites
If you already have taken an introductory Latin course, this won't be new material for you. Of course, you are still welcome.

Why are swear words “bad”? Where did they come from? What are their rules? Like any other part of speech, profanity has it’s own set of rules, it’s own history, and it’s own meaning. In this course, we explore how profanity is used and how its use impacts our communication.
NOTE: there will be profanity used in this course. Students who are not comfortable with this subject or unable to discuss it in a mature manner should not sign up.

Ever wonder how mathematicians distinguish between donuts and donut holes? Using the definition- and proof-based approach common in advanced math classes, along with lots of examples, this course will dive into topology. We’ll build up an understanding of one way to classify topological spaces, then use it to prove that donuts and donut holes are not the same thing — but donuts and coffee mugs might be!


Prerequisites
Geometry

Do you want a fun introduction to logic and axiomatic theory? Look no further! This class will teach everything from the proper apparel for a knight to Godel's Incompleteness Theorems. Be prepared for some mind-bending sorcery (or mathematics, if you call it that)

Do you hate calculus? Did you ever wish that math was just counting things? Then this is the class for you. We will show how simple counting techniques can solve deep problems in mathematics, physics, and computer science. You will even get to try your hand on sample problems! Topics will include 2 or 3 of the following: the Pigeon Hole Principle, Stars and Bars, Catalan Numbers, the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, Bell Numbers, Stirling Numbers, the Fibonacci Sequence, binomial identities.


Prerequisites
Algebra

Congratulations! You've been chosen to appear on a series of game show with a big payoff! You want to play strategically to win as much as possible, but when you look closely at these games, they seem to break math. We'll look at several games and have a discussion to try to figure out what's so weird with them. Along the way, we'll build up the basic tools for going on a real game show, or making any real-life decision with money.

Here's a game as a warm up: You're on a game show, and you're presented with three doors. Behind one is a car, and behind the other two are goats. You get to pick a door and take whatever's behind it. Once you've chosen, but before you see what you've won, the host opens a door that you didn't choose, revealing a goat. Then the host offers to let you switch to the other unopened door, if you want. Should you take him up on it? It seems like it shouldn't matter; it seems like either door has a 50/50 shot of having the car. But no! Actually, you're better off switching; you'll win with probability 2/3!

This puzzle is known as the Monty Hall Paradox, named after the original host of "Let's Make a Deal". Come find out what the deal is with this puzzle, and other, even weirder, puzzles. Along the way we'll establish the essential aspects of probability.

Get ready for the greatest magic trick of all time. In this class, I'll show you how to take one ball, and make it into two, just with a few cuts to the original ball.

Confused? Intrigued? Learn how to perform this magic trick at your next party (pro-tip: buy a infinitesimally thin knife)


Prerequisites
Familiarity with set theory advised but is not necessary

The P vs NP problem is one of the major unsolved problems in math and computer science today. It even has a million dollar prize. But what exactly is it?

It's a problem about other problems, from finding solutions to systems of equations to Sudoku, asking how fast they can be solved. While we won't be able to solve P vs NP in this class, we will go through what it is and why it is so important.


Prerequisites
Familiarity with algorithms and asymptotic notation (big O notation) is recommended but not required.

This course will focus on the nervous system and brain from both a microscopic and macroscopic level. We will look at how the brain works to control behavior and interact with the environment through normal functioning and generating action potentials between cells. Additionally, we will look at what happens when things go wrong during neurological diseases and the outcomes of various dysfunctions in the brain.


Prerequisites
There are no specific prerequisites, but previous biology or psychology courses are helpful.

A brief introduction to the fundamental principals of special and general relativity. Discussions of the interplay between space and time, the importance of the speed of light, spacetime curvature and geodesics in curved geometry, tidal forces, sources of gravity, examples of how general relativity effects us, black holes (if time)


Prerequisites
Strong algebra skills and familiarity with geometry a must. A basic understanding of elementary calculus (primarily just the concept of a derivative and integral) will be very helpful but not absolutely necessary, as I will attempt to minimize their use

95% of known animal species have no backbone or spine, and yet these invertebrate animals aren’t nearly as popular or well-known as vertebrates like frogs, fish and humans. In this class, we’ll walk through the unique, almost alien anatomy and physiology of different invertebrate animal groups (did you know octopuses have three hearts and blue blood?) and talk about how invertebrates ranging from cockroaches to coral first evolved. We’ll talk about how research on nematode worms and fruit flies has helped us better understand genetics, development, and disease in our own bodies. And we’ll talk about the importance of invertebrate animals to industry and the economy (from bees that pollinate crops to the “shellfish” that millions eat each day), and how studying invertebrates (including the fossil record of long-dead invertebrates) can help us protect them and the ecosystems they are a part of from of global warming and other environmental change.


Prerequisites
An interest in biology, the environment, or unusual animals!

This course will be an accessible introduction to the wonders of the quantum world and how scientists are trying to harness the power of quantum mechanics to build quantum computers, which will revolutionize the fields of physics, chemistry, and cryptology. Students will be given the opportunity to hold in their own hands some of the building blocks of these futuristic machines.

Want to find out the chemical basis of what is happening in the kitchen? Join us as we explore the reactions and interactions that take place to make our food taste great, and how to apply them to improve your own cooking and baking skills.


Prerequisites
At least one high school level chemistry course

This will be a crash course on proteins. We will focus on structure for the entirety of the course as we move from primary to secondary to tertiary and then to quaternary structure. The different intermolecular forces that influence structure and lead to function will be touched upon. If possible, we will also learn how to model proteins with toobers.

We will look at a 3 dimensional model of a common protein found in the human body and analyze how it is able to function the way that it does.


Prerequisites
None but some biology and chemistry background would help

Did you ever wonder about the ethics behind using technology? Ever imagine what our future will entail as an advanced technological species? Then this class is for YOU. This class will cover the basics of ethical philosophy and then investigate developments in computer ethics in the context of modern philosophers, such as Weiner, Manor, and Moor. Come for discussion-based classes filled with fascinating information, and leave filling enriched.

Questbridge is a scholarship aimed at Low-Income, high achieving students to receive full scholarships to one of 40 partner schools. The course will teach students about the Questbridge Scholarship and the oppertunties it has for students starting in their junior year, before they apply to the selective full scholarship program. The course will also be a panel where students can come and ask questions about applying to scholarships starting from middle school, applying to college, and advice for preparing for college.

This course will cover famous criminal cases in history (i.e Al Capone, OJ Simpson, Anthrax Investigation). We will also briefly discuss the depiction of major criminal cases in the media, popular TV shows, etc. FInally, we will attempt to solve a case of our own in groups!

We will be going through what Game Theory is, a brief history of where Game Theory came from, learning how to solve some simple games for an equilibrium and also will play a game that involves trying to reason through how to outwit the class.

No math background necessary, come prepared to think logically.