Major Courses and Writing Workshop

This class will help students explore their own voices and passions relating to issues of social justice. Specifically, they will learn how to move from passion to purposeful living. As neighbors, community members, passion-filled beings, how can we engage in programs, services, and initiatives that will work towards addressing those issues that we care most about? There are many mission-driven organizations that are on the front lines of fighting for justice. This may be in the form of feeding the hungry, or giving access to opportunity for those from disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities.

Students will have the opportunity to discover impactful nonprofit organizations right in their own backyards while also learning about those organizations that have been at the forefront of change throughout the nation.

In this class, students will be engaged in an exploration of the “causes” that matter to them most and work towards designing a nonprofit organization or social enterprise that will work towards addressing that cause. Working in groups, students will:

• Begin the work of doing a needs assessment of the communities that they come from, and identify the top pressing needs that residents in their local or neighboring communities are facing. Through research they will explore the organizations working to meet those needs while skillfully identifying current service gaps, and work on building the type of organization that would help to fill those gaps.
• Work on developing personal and organizational mission and vision statements that will help to align their personal passions with purposeful service.
• Devise action plans that will be their ‘next steps’ in terms of applying their passion for justice into purposeful service.

When we look out into the night sky, we inevitably ask the question, “What’s out there?” Astronomy at ASP aims to answer that question and beyond. This course is an introduction to the cosmos, designed to get an idea of what the Universe is, how it came to be, objects and phenomena that exist in it, and the means by which we observe it. We begin with getting our bearings in the sky above: identify constellations, learn and share stories of the sky from around the world, and understand how and why the sky changes. We continue with a study of extrasolar planets as we ponder “Are we alone?” and write a mock proposal to NASA to use the James Webb Space Telescope to search for signs of life. Next, we examine our sun and solar system and move on to a study of stellar evolution and galaxy formation. Finally, we explore a wide variety of exotic mind-blowing astronomical phenomena and ideas such as black holes, supernova and the expansion and fate of the universe. Throughout the course, we will use the St. Paul’s observatory for telescope observing of planets, galaxies, nebulas, and star clusters and learn to use computer coding to analyze data. We will visit a professional observatory and have a chance to chat with astronomers at NASA and other centers. All the while, we will see how astronomy has woven through time as an integral part of humanity and ponder its fate in our future.

Field Trips

• MIT – Haystack Radio Observatory

In-Class Activities

• Telescope Fundamentals
• Scale of the Universe
• Spectroscopy Lab
• Parallax Lab
• HR Diagram
• Movie creations
• Stories of the sky from around the world

Resources

• Text: “Lecture-Tutorials for Introductory Astronomy,” by Edward Prather, Timothy Slater, Jeffrey Adams, and Gina Brissenden
• Atlas: “The Cambridge Star Atlas,” by Wil Tirion

Speakers

Each summer, we welcome various speakers, such as astrophysics researchers, astronomy graduate students, and NASA scientists.

We are living in a period of tremendous scientific and cultural change, and nowhere is that more evident than in the biomedical ethical issues that appear almost daily on the front pages of the newspaper and on the six-o’clock news. These biomedical ethics issues exist at the intersection of several important subjects: philosophy and medicine, private decision making and public policy, economics and scientific advancement, the individual and the society, popular culture and science. The questions raised in the study of biomedical ethics are important to individuals both as health care decision makers and as citizens involved in the debate and formation of public policy. Through the study of contemporary medical ethical issues, we will examine and question our own beliefs while understanding many of the thorniest personal and policy decisions of our time.

The course addresses such topics as genetic engineering, health care financing, allocation of scarce medical resources, death and dying, human experimentation, patient autonomy, stem cell research, and abortion. Class time is spent discussing difficult decisions and real cases, as well as developing formal analytical and presentation skills through research projects, weekly journal debates and weekly written case analyses. Films, newspapers and magazine articles are also incorporated along with field trips to hospitals, lawyers’ offices and other relevant locations.

By the end of the course, students should be able to identify ethical conflicts in news stories, medical cases, films, etc.; identify stake holders and articulate various opposing positions; analyze the arguments raised on multiple sides of a conflict; take and defend a reasoned position, both in writing and in public speaking, and, most importantly, engage in civil, productive discussion about divisive, emotionally charged issues.

Dive into the dynamic world of data science, a rapidly growing field at the intersection of statistics, computer science and real-world decision-making. Data Scientists are employable in a wide range of organizations, from finance to government, business to sports. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 35% growth in data science jobs over the next decade. In this course, students will:

• Collect, manipulate, visualize and analyze data, all grounded in sound mathematical principles.
• Learn statistical coding with R and master data visualization using Tableau, a tool widely used in the business world.
• Engage in authentic, project-based learning, possibly including creating wall-sized infographics, conducting political polling, designing cognitive science experiments, text mining and analyzing real datasets from local organizations.

For their capstone project, students will analyze data from a local partner and present their findings back to them, gaining valuable real-world data analysis experience. Past partners have included New Hampshire Public Radio, ReVision Energy, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, and the Land & Community Heritage Investment Program. 

Whether you’re interested in applying mathematics to other interesting fields or you’re looking to improve your skills in quantitative decision-making, communicating mathematically and coding, this course offers an engaging learning experience.

The suggested prerequisite is Algebra 2. No statistics experience is necessary — there will be some overlap between this course and a high school statistics course.

As our world population and resource use increase, we are faced with a range of ecological challenges. This course explores the issues and the science behind those challenges. Using the tools and methods of ecologists, students will explore the principles applicable to local aquatic and terrestrial ecology.

Students can expect to learn new computer, laboratory, and field skills; improve their science reading-and-writing techniques; and acquire an understanding of the scientific and political issues facing ecologists today. This course introduces students to the various branches of ecology: experimental, field, and sociopolitical.

Specific topics to be covered include biodiversity, water quality; pollution and its effect on all parts of the environment; ecosystems and the interactions of animals, plants, microbes, and abiotic factors within those ecosystems; the flow of energy; cycling of nutrients; and populations.

Successful completion of a year of biology is a prerequisite. A prior course in chemistry is also helpful.

Homework assignments will vary from day to day, but students should expect to have about three hours of work each evening. Students are given reading assignments from the texts and numerous handouts on topics under consideration. Field trip reports and tests are usually of short-essay format.

Faculty and interns are available afternoons, evenings and in special review sessions held before tests. Student work is evaluated daily in the form of class participation, two tests, one field final exam, and class presentations.

Activities/Presentations

• Some days there are lectures on a specific topic to be followed by a lab activity or field trip. (One to two field trips are taken each week)
• Students present special topics to the class in an evening seminar on the Merrimack River canoe trip.
• Students use technology in graphing and writing up their data for their field trip reports and also conduct data tabulation on the Merrimack River canoe trip.
• Students participate in current ecological discussions and debates.
• Journals are kept of an observation site, field trips and for reflections.
• A biodiversity project is presented by students.

Field Trips

• Turkey Pond Watershed
• 15 miles by canoe from below Sewell’s Falls in Concord to below the Bow Power Plant in Bow
• Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
• Penacook Lake
• Little Pond/Bog
• Hall St. Waste Water Treatment Plant, Concord

Also On The Road

• Soil Ecology and Conservation
• Forestry measurements and ecology
• A slide show at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and hike in the watershed
• Tour (Merrimack River canoe trip) given by the staff at Garvini’s Falls Hydroelectric Dam
• Tour given by staff at Hall St. Waste Water Treatment Plant

Resources

Books

• Environmental Science, Global
• Pond Life
• Composition Book

Videos/Movies

• Africa: Serengeti
• Aldo Leopold: A Prophet For All Seasons
• Pond and Brook
• Acid Rain
• After the Warming
• Canetoads Are Coming
• China’s Only Child
• The Lorax

This course is designed for students who may be interested in pursuing engineering as a college major. Many students enter college without the perspective of what engineering is and for which field they are best suited. The purpose of this course is to give students a taste of the engineering spectrum and the knowledge to determine whether they might want to pursue engineering in college. The course will address major fields of engineering.

Students in this course will explore engineering through an applied approach. Concepts will be taught using hands-on, practical, and familiar examples and explained with theory that builds on students’ current understanding of physics and math. Class work will be supplemented with field trips to organizations practicing engineering. Students will be required to complete a long-term project which incorporates major engineering fields.

Specific topics covered might include computer-aided-design (CAD), coding with microcontrollers, use of shop tools, and design theory. 

Prerequisites: Math through algebra II (pre-calc preferred). Physics (recommended but not required).

Are you an ideas person? A risk taker? A social change maker? You’ve come to the right place! As the world grapples with a variety of different economic, social, and environmental issues, many people are looking to the private sector, specifically social entrepreneurship, to provide meaningful solutions to contemporary problems. This class will equip students with not only the skills to become a successful businessperson, but also the tools necessary to develop and launch their very own company.

Students will begin by learning the foundations of entrepreneurship: finances, investing, marketing, and professional development. The majority of the work will be student-driven, featuring a variety of hands-on projects that teach the power of networking, the importance of engaging with their communities, and the need for comprehensive business models that lead to sustainable profits. Next, students will study corporate social responsibility and the potential for businesses to catalyze change. Through various case studies, they will explore different industries in order to identify areas where profits can be balanced with social impact and sustainability. Armed with this knowledge, students will complete a culminating “Shark Tank” style project in which they create their own socially driven business and pitch it to a panel of investors.

This class will regularly feature speakers, field trips, and cross-class collaborations, giving students the opportunity to hear from a wide range of perspectives. Students will develop public speaking and presentation skills, work with people from across backgrounds, and think critically about the institutions that structure our society. No prior experience necessary!

Painting, architecture, sculpture, music, dance, and poetry have been recognized as expressions of human imagination for over four millennia. Integral to our earliest civilizations, they have offered boundless emotional and intellectual rewards to every culture. Then, just a century ago, scholar Ricciotto Canudo added an entirely new art form to the pantheon: Cinema, The Seventh Art. Yet, since its invention, cinema has been primarily a commercial commodity, a thrill-filled mass entertainment like a magic show, or an amusement park ride. In Hollywood’s Golden Age, studios resembled production lines, providing a shiny stream of titles for eager consumers.

Is cinema a challenging and deeply satisfying aesthetic medium? Or is it a fantastical, escapist distraction? A gratifying “yes” to both questions. This course offers students the academic scaffolding to recognize, understand, and analyze the building blocks of film and to expand and intensify their own cinematic experience, exploring exactly what makes film such a captivating and unique creative mode. Beginning with elements that film borrows from literature and theater, like plot, characters, theme, dialogue, and costumes, we will use these “crossover” ingredients as a bridge leading to film’s distinct language: cinematography, mise en scène, editing, lighting, sound, special effects.

We will explore the ways in which movies reflect and shape our beliefs, values, and opinions about ourselves, our society, and how we understand life. We will address issues of representation and identity, including gender, race, and sexual orientation, along with questions about screen violence, sexuality, and censorship. Harnessing the power of communal viewing, participants will share observations, opinions, and questions in large-group discussions when the lights come back on. Other activities will include readings, writing, and student presentations. Our films will reflect a range of eras, countries, and genres, including some R-rated material.

Many works of fiction are avoided or even banned in high schools every year, yet these same texts are often taught to college freshmen. As a means of bridging this gap, we will explore controversial literary works in an effort to understand the complex issues the texts present and why those issues have motivated attempts at censorship. In addition, we will attempt to step back and consider the bigger picture: what concerns or beliefs or values have motivated different groups of people to ban, challenge or limit access to literature in the past/present?

Through our studies, we will ask hard questions about what kinds of censorship might actually be valid, or at least understandable, in specific contexts. We will also explore ways in which book burning and book banning, challenge campaigns and cancel culture might be related phenomena. Finally, we will attempt to codify our own individual perspectives on these types  of issues and to lay the groundwork for success in the collegiate environment. Along the way, students will engage in traditional writing as well as informal journal entries, as well as a wide variety of individual and group projects to demonstrate the key concepts in action.

A warning: Just about everything we read this summer has created controversy or posed problems for somebody, somewhere. We will do our best to let you know what’s coming and to provide a supportive atmosphere to engage with difficult subject matter.

Core Texts (in order)

• “Fahrenheit 451,” by Ray Bradbury
• “The Color Purple,” by Alice Walker
• “Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie
• “The Handmaid’s Tail,” by Margaret Atwood
• “The Satanic Verses,” by Salman Rushdie

Field Trips

• Concord, N.H.
  Gibson’s Bookstore; N.H. Legislature / Department of Education; N.H. State Library
• Cambridge, Mass.
  Harvard School of Education; Widener Library; Harvard Crimson Offices

This is an introductory course to International Relations and Global Politics where students will learn about current global events through contemporary theories and practice of global politics. This course is divided into two main parts: in the first part, we will study the foundational theoretical concepts and approaches to International Relations; in the second part, we will focus on practical analysis of contemporary issues in International Relations and Global Politics using the foundational theoretical concepts from the first part of this course. This course will survey contemporary actors, theoretical paradigms, and disciplinary debates on interstate relations and the study of global politics. Additionally, the course will make use of non-traditional sources and academic paradigms in the study of International Relations and Global Politics. We will learn about other nations’ traditions, cultures, politics, and religions through ‘more fun and non-traditional’ academic sources. In addition to the assigned readings, students will watch films, listen to/watch lectures and podcasts, participate in discussion groups, and conduct group work in role-playing crisis situations and conflict resolutions. This course will provide you with a global perspective of current events such as the war in Ukraine.

Goals for Students:

• Understand and be able to wield major concepts in the study of world politics such as power, states, war, peace-making, globalization, anarchy, balance of power, interdependence, and norms.
• Compare and contrast different theoretical concepts with the objective of identifying the advantages and disadvantages of certain theoretical approaches and their application in global politics.
• Understand and analyze contemporary events in world politics through using the canonical theoretical approaches of International Relations, including the variations of realism, liberalism, and constructivism.
• Master the location of states on a world map and learn about other nations’ cultures and traditions.
• Demonstrate a basic familiarity with great power politics with the objective of identifying the advantages and disadvantages of different US grand strategies in global politics.

This course will explore the different philosophies, ideas and events that have shaped the development of the American legal and political systems. In particular, using a variety of historical documents, Supreme Court cases, and legislation, students will grapple with what should be the appropriate allocation of power between the three branches of the federal government and state and national governments. The course will also highlight the country’s persistent struggle to guarantee civil rights and civil liberties. Using current issues facing the courts and policy makers, students will research and discuss a range of topics including: government surveillance, campaign finance, immigration, national debt and deficit, and the criminal justice system. To expose students to political and legal challenges of governance, students will participate in a variety of simulations including a legislative hearing, a court trial, and a town hall meeting.

Guest speakers active in the fields of government and law and field trips to the state capital and Federal Courthouse complement classroom activities.

Personalized medicine, genetically modified organisms, human genome reprogramming; these are but a few areas in which our rapidly expanding knowledge of molecular biology is influencing the future. This challenging course is designed to provide a solid foundation in the science of molecular biology, and to explore how we might make sense of a wealth of genetic information that increases every year. Using state of the art laboratory equipment, students will have the opportunity to utilize cutting edge genome editing technologies to investigate issues of medical, ecological, and overall societal importance. Acting as medical researchers, we will also work to discover the etiology of a mysterious condition that affects people worldwide.

Our studies will be sustained by seminars, model building, group presentations, news articles and primary source readings, discussion and debate, trips to university labs and biotechnology institutes, and much hands-on exploration. In tandem with our study of modern technologies and their potential benefits, we will also consider the circumstances in which we might refrain from their use. Coupled with AI, advances in molecular biology are poised to help shape what is possible in the future. This course’s goal is to empower us to be stewards of a rapidly growing capacity. Successful completion of a year of both high school biology and chemistry is a prerequisite.

Book

“The Gene,” by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Clinical Presentations

Just as a medical student, intern, or resident would do, each student acts as a physician and must present a “patient.” Students diagnose and treat the disease and explain the molecular and physiologic basis for it.

Field Trips

To advance our research, we may travel to the UNH Hubbard Genome Center and the UNH Instrumentation Center

New Hampshire is known for its natural landscapes, from its mountains to its rivers, lakes, and even a small stretch of beautiful coastline. These features are not random; their story reflects a complex history of geologic and environmental processes that have shaped the Earth over hundreds of millions of years. The state’s geologic past includes ancient tectonic collisions, volcanic activity, and periods of glaciation. In addition to these natural processes, human activities have also left their mark on the landscape we see today. In this course, we will use New Hampshire’s natural laboratory as an introduction to the geosciences and investigate both the tectonic and climate processes that have molded our state.

We will take field trips to the White Mountains to observe evidence of ancient tectonic collisions that once formed mountains the size of the Alps before weathering and erosion wore them down over millions of years. Together, we will explore: How did the Granite State get its name? In the Lakes Region, we will learn that much of New England was once covered by a vast glacier, which, along with rivers, carved many of the state’s iconic lakes, valleys, and notches. We will also cover recent environmental research on issues such as acid rain and air pollution that have impacted New Hampshire’s earth systems. Finally, we will discuss and predict what New Hampshire might look like in the future as our planet’s climate system continues to change. To complement field trips, material on campus will be covered through lectures, experiments, and hands-on, data-driven activities.

This course is open to all students, regardless of prior knowledge in the geosciences, and it will benefit students with a wide range of career aspirations.

Potential Topics

• Introduction to the Geosciences, Earth Materials, and the Rock Cycle
• Tectonics Mountain Building, and Volcanism (Field trip to White Mountains)
• Climate History and Glaciation (Connecticut River Valley)
• Rivers, Watersheds, and Water/Air Quality (Field trip to Lakes Region)
• Sea Level Rise, Coastal Processes, and Future Projections for New Hampshire (Field trip to the coast)

Did aliens build the pyramids? Where is the lost city of Atlantis? Were Christians killed in the colosseum? Who were the Amazons? What caused the fall of the Roman Empire? This course examines both the known and unknown features of the ancient Mediterranean world. From the pyramids of Egypt to the mystery cults of ancient Greece and the powerful imperial dynasties of ancient Rome, we will survey the art, architecture, religion, history, and literature of the ancient Mediterranean world. Students will get the chance to experience an ancient Greek symposium, create theatre masks, sample the delicacies of a Roman feast, and examine archeological finds from the ancient world.

While approached chronologically, this course will investigate different periods and their notable cultural contributions. The course will begin by examining civilizations in the Fertile Crescent and Egypt and their impact on the development of the ancient Mediterranean. We’ll explore the Nile with King Tut, peruse the Parthenon with Perikles, and defend the Roman Republic with Cicero. By the end of the course, students will decipher some Egyptian hieroglyphs, learn the fundamentals of the ancient Greek language, and either supplement preexisting Latin studies or be introduced to the language.

Students will also have the added benefit of meeting visiting experts in the field of Classics including ancient historians, classicists, archeologists, and art historians. Field trips to regional art museums like the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Worcester Art Museum will complement class activities.

Suggested Field Trips

• Museum of Fine Arts Boston
• Worcester Art Museum

Suggested Book List

• Aeschylus’ “Oresteia” (Hackett) 
• Sophocles’ “Oedipus Tyrannus” (Hackett) 
• Euripides’ “Medea” (Hackett) 
• Aristophanes’ “Frogs” (Hackett) 
• Homer’s “Odyssey” (Norton) 
• Vergil’s “Aeneid” (Penguin) 
• “SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome” (Liveright) 
• Suetonius’ “Lives of the Caesars” (OUP) 

Have you ever asked yourself how some people seem to be able to get in shape rapidly? Wondered if there was a genetic component to sports performance? Are you curious about the physiological differences between an elite endurance athlete and an elite power athlete, or if all athletes should train the same?

Whether you’ve ever pondered these questions or are just an ardent sports fan, this course can help explain the science behind the statistics. We will use ourselves as test subjects, gathering baseline physiology data for VO2 max, Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), and Total Body Power expression in the vertical and horizontal plane. We will then commit to a 21-day evidence-based training program, retest, and analyze our results. The science to support the three-week training program will be investigated through journal research, class discussion, and hands-on activities. Students will maintain a detailed training log to document training variables such as intensity, frequency, and volume, as well as emotional state, daily nutrition, and sleep patterns.

Throughout this course, we will examine large-scale research studies to understand experimental design and the challenges of dealing with human subjects/participants. We will compare the results of our lab activities to those obtained in the HERITAGE Family Study, which was designed to study the role of genotype in responses to aerobic exercise training.

Anatomy and Physiology is not a prerequisite, but if you have already taken A&P and enjoyed it, we’d also love to see you join this course, as we will dive into the exercise physiology aspects of health and wellness.

This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of Computer Science through Python programming. Students will learn to write code, develop algorithms, and solve computational problems. By the end of the course, participants will have a solid foundation in Python and be equipped to explore more advanced topics in Computer Science or software development. Students who are already familiar with Python will be able to further develop their skills in this course.

Course Objectives:

• Gain proficiency in Python programming.
• Understand core Computer Science concepts like algorithms and data structures.
• Develop strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.
• Create functional Python projects that solve real-world problems.

This fully immersive, Spanish-language course is designed for students looking to improve their proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Through dynamic, interactive daily lessons, students will engage in diverse activities that target all language skills while building advanced vocabulary. The course will offer a rich variety of content designed to challenge and enhance each student’s communication abilities in preparation for real-world applications and for further study in high school and college. The skills developed in this course offer further practice and deeper cultural exploration to strengthen language and cultural analysis abilities.

Each week is centered on themes such as global challenges, personal and public identities, science and technology, and contemporary life in the Spanish-speaking world. Students will also explore the rich cultural diversity of the Spanish-speaking world through art, music, literature, and film, providing meaningful context for real-world language application. Some of the authentic materials will include articles, podcasts, films, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction texts, among others.

The course includes timed AP exam simulations, allowing students to practice under real conditions and refine their strategies for success. These exercises are tools to practice language learning, whether or not the student is planning to take the AP Spanish exam. By the end of the course, students should be able to confidently write argumentative essays, draft both formal and informal emails, deliver presentations, and engage in conversations on a wide range of topics, all in Spanish.

Prerequisites: Students should be comfortable using advanced grammar structures such as the present and imperfect subjunctive, conditional and future tenses, as well as conditional clauses.

Skills Developed:

• Crafting argumentative essays in Spanish
• Writing formal and informal emails
• Delivering presentations on cultural and thematic topics
• Engaging in fluent conversations with a wide range of vocabulary