Splash Fall 2022
Course Catalog

When was the last time you closed a book and sat there wondering why you finished reading it? What books have you been forced to slog through by school or a well-meaning teacher? Well, here's your place to complain about them! We'll be talking about bad books we've read and why we disliked them so much. Come prepared with your biblio-biography!

Topics will include: character arcs (or lack thereof), fan service, bad plot armor, genre blindness, deus ex machina, self inserts, and writers who doggedly resist improving their writing.


Class Style
Discussion

Prerequisites
There is a chance we will be discussing books with heavier, "adult" topics - be prepared to be mature if necesary.

This class will provide an introduction into the Indian classical dance form, Kathak. Be ready to move while learning an exciting and graceful dance form!

We will start with a brief introduction into the art form. Then, we will learn some basics! Finally, the bulk of the class will involve learning a short dance routine.


Class Style
Activity

Have you ever wanted to launch plastic babies with a slingshot/catapult/trebuchet that you’ve created on your own? Well now’s your chance to express your creative freedom and put your engineering skills to the test! Starting with a quick physics lesson on projectile motion and the principles of energy, we’ll prepare you to tackle ANY engineering problem coming your way. With a small team, you’ll then work to design and build your own unique baby launcher. We’ll end the workshop with a fun competition where you and your group will have the opportunity to launch babies to accumulate points and potentially rule all! Hope to see you there :)


Class Style
Workshop

Do you ever wonder how your phone works? What about how electronics are made? In this workshop, we'll have fun learning about the basics of electronics; batteries, LEDs, resistors, switches, and more. After a brief introduction, we'll learn to solder, and you will get to solder and take home your own electronics kit. No previous experience needed!


Class Style
Workshop

Basic explanation on how to use solidworks and the opportunity to use solidworks to design a simple assembly.


Class Style
Workshop

Prerequisites
none

Do you ever feel like big tech is watching your every move?
Ever wonder about the ethical ramifications of various inventions?
Confused as to why some people do/don’t contribute to environmental causes?
Want to learn some philosophy from someone who took a single philosophy course and now feels that he is an expert?
If so, look no further than this class!

Within this class, I will have a few prepared discussion points and a few that you will be able to choose from as a group, and this will allow for a vibrant and deep discussion about how human values relate to the technology of the modern era.

Disclaimer: This same class was taught in Spring of 2022, so if you attended that it will be nearly identical.


Class Style
Discussion

Prerequisites
An open mind

What is gender? How do we figure out our relationship with gender? Through existentialist philosophy, we will take a look at select readings and how they can apply to gender identity. We will discuss figures like Soren Kierkegaarde, Simone De Beauvoir, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, as well as modern queer theorists like Judith Butler. This class is primarily discussion based.


Class Style
Discussion

Robots may destroy the planet, but probably not like they did in The Terminator. Come find out what future robots will look like, whether they will think like you or I, and whether you should be afraid of them. **This class does not require a computer science background**


Class Style
Discussion

The Nazi's didn't just burn books, they burned art, too. Why is art such a big deal? Why do some pieces of art sell for millions while others pieces are viewed as "degenerate"? Can video games be considered art, and ultimately, who are the people afraid of red, yellow, and blue?


Class Style
Discussion

It's easy to go online and create your own site nowadays with sites like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly. They look good, and they definitely work. However, there are problems with these sites: for one, they are less customizable, but the bigger problem is that they're lame. Building the website yourself, through code, is way cooler..

This is an introductory course on HTML, the coding language used to make the front end of websites. No experience needed! Learn to make your OWN site, and make it somewhat good looking. Put Wix out of business!


Class Style
Workshop

Prerequisites
Attitude to learn!

Java is a popular object based programming language. This class will delve into what an object is and what classes are s a nice way to get students interested in coding in Java.


Class Style
Demonstration

Prerequisites
Some programming basics would be nice.

Love sports? Ever wondered about the economics behind them? We plan to examine sports as a case study for two economics concepts: supply & demand and probability. We'll explain the concepts, how they are related to sports, and then use an example activity to simulate a sports season and represent the concepts.


Class Style
Experiment

Learn how to abstractify the 2D world with group theory!

We'll cover the basics of groups and how they relate to symmetry and geometry.


Class Style
Presentation/Lecture

Prerequisites
No math prerequisites, but content may be challenging

Come make some cool designs like arrows, hearts, and words using JavaScript and block code on our circuit playground kit! Our microbit kit is a small circuit that has a light up board, microphone, and a radio. We will also be teaching you how to code a game using the board too!


Class Style
Workshop

Ever wanted to learn about how emoji work behind the scenes? This class might be for you.

Come learn about Unicode, an international standard for text that includes thousands of characters including the simple letter "a", the large and mysterious "𒈙" and even "👍".

We'll also learn about why emoji and Unicode tend to break everything, from invisible usernames to text messages that crash your phone.


Class Style
Presentation/Lecture

The goal is to show math can be fun. If you enjoy problem solving and puzzles, come join! We will introduce and explore interesting problems together.


Class Style
Group-Based

The Fermi Paradox asks why, in a universe that is so incomprehensibly big, the only intelligent life we know about is located on Earth. In this class, we will walk through the basis of the Fermi Paradox and some of the proposed answers to the paradox. Then we will discuss as a group!


Class Style
Discussion

Ever want to eat DNA? You do every day! But you ever want to see and touch a big glob of it? You can here! In this class you will participate in a DNA lab exercise consisting of smashing fruit. You will also be learning about what DNA is and why we can do what we're doing.


Class Style
Experiment

Cars, Trains, Boats, Airplanes- all things that move fast, and you really don't want them to collide.
But how do you prevent collisions when you can't actually talk to the people in the other vehicles?
From the ancient rules of sailing, to the complex algorithms developed by NASA, we look at how people avoid crashes without needing to communicate.
We'll finish with an activity where students create their own set of rules that don't require communication.


Class Style
Workshop

Conversation is probably one of the most important skills for your personal and professional life. And yet you're almost entirely on your own to figure out how to develop it by trial and error. I would be that no one has ever taught you how to hold a conversation.

This class aims to change that by presenting some principles of conversations and how they work, and exploring some strategies you can use to improve on your conversational skills.


Class Style
Discussion

We will be exploring how race, gender, and sexuality play a role in shaping the world of RnB music. We will explore the impact of artists like Doja Cat, The Weeknd, Rihanna, and Beyoncé on popular culture. We will look at how the intersectionality of identities can affect artists’s struggles and rise to fame.


Class Style
Discussion

So you're feeling overwhelmed? We live in a world where everyone is extremely busy all the time. So it's a natural feeling. Let's take a step back and figure out how to be less stressed. Through different activities, we will reflect, have fun, and get to the root of our stress. Come prepared to have lots of fun and hopefully de-stress allowing you to leave a little less overwhelmed!


Class Style
Workshop

Prerequisites
Note: Come prepared to participate in different activities, personally reflect on your stress, and also have some fun!

For all skill levels, if you are interested in just learning to play chess, or improving your skills, this course will have something to offer! Join to become a better chess player!


Class Style
Workshop

Have you wondered how to play the Korean children's games you saw in the Netflix series Squid Game? Come compete in this intro class.


Class Style
Activity