Splash Spring 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), forced romance, idiot plots, Mary Sues, deus ex machina, storyline pacing, 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 explore Korean-Pop music (Kpop) in the United States. This cultural phenomenon has swept the United States and made an impact on American music and culture. We will look at popular Kpop groups, their history, influence, and impact.


Class Style
Presentation/Lecture

Learn the process engineers go through to invent something from start to finish! We will be start by setting goals and creating sketches, then we will create prototypes to test and improve stages of a Rube Goldberg machine.


Class Style
Group-Based

Come join the chemical engineering club for a fun spring-themed activity! We will be using peeps to blow up balloons and create slime! We’ll explain the science behind the magic.


Class Style
Experiment

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 think you shouldn't lie to their face?
Want to learn some philosophy from someone who took a single philosophy course in freshman year 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: While I do consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the topics I plan on discussing, I’m not all-knowing, and everything discussed should be taken with a few grains of salt. In addition, I'm not trying to convince you to change your beliefs, just attempting to contextualize a few things.

Additional Disclaimer: Some topics that are more controversial might be brought up. Again, I won't be proclaiming what is right or wrong, but if discussing ethical dilemmas might not be for you, feel free to avoid this class.


Class Style
Discussion

Prerequisites
Some logical reasoning skills An open mind

There's no single key to happiness, but many have tried to find some light in a chaotic world. In this class, we'll look at some of the most famous theories - absurdism, stoicism, buddhism - and use them to think about our own situations.


Class Style
Discussion

The earth isn't flat, so why do so many people think it is? In this class we'll break into the psychology of flat earthers, false flaggers, and bigfoot hunters.


Class Style
Discussion

The American Civil War ended in 1865, we abolished slavery, and we don't have to think about what happened afterward, right?

The reality is that one of the most intense political battles in history took place over the next ten years, and proved that sometimes history is written by the losers.


Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
Content Warning: This class may discuss racial and political violence that occurred during this time period. A basic familiarity with the American Civil War may be assumed.

Do you get nervous speaking in front of a big group? Butterflies before a school presentation? Come to the "Step Outside the Box" class to start learning how to face your fears. Through various interactive activities in a small group setting, learn important leadership and public speaking skills.


Class Style
Workshop

Prerequisites
Be prepared to actively participate in the activities and speak in front of the class.

These vegans are so preachy, am I right? They claim to have the silver bullet to climate change and human health, but really they’re just looking for a way to shame us. Veganism at its core is unsustainable and elitist, right?

Where do they get it wrong? Where do they get it right?

How about we find out!

In this class, we will be discussing the ideals of veganism and its critiques. We will cover ethical, environmental, and health concerns all to get into the nitty gritty of what the vegan movement is really about.

*This will be a safe space for nuance, reflection and honesty.

Trigger warning: animal cruelty, violence, death. While we will do our best not to harp on these subjects, these are consistent themes in discussion about veganism.


Class Style
Discussion

So, you want to know about everything? EVER??* In this class, we'll be covering the history of the cosmos and the Earth, all in sixty minutes! From the big bang to our modern day, we're going to speedrun the world as we understand it right now.

*we're not qualified to talk about the future


Class Style
Presentation/Lecture

Prerequisites
No geologic or historical knowledge is required

Have your parents ever roasted you for being on your phone too much, for spending hours scrolling through social media? Have they ever spent hours reading the newspaper? Well, you should inform them that news has evolved, and that those little political cartoons they look at mocking current politics have transformed into witty and sometimes questionable video clips of kids on the Internet giving their hot take on current events. In this class we'll analyze some of the most infamous political cartoons from the past alongside some of the most iconic vines and tiktoks of our generation, and observe how political satire has changed with each generation.


Class Style
Discussion

Everyone loves a good hacking scene in movies. Tense, epic portrayals of hacking in modern-day films and stories have created a false perception of the true nature of hacking to the general public. In this course, you will learn about the true meaning of hacking, some methods of hacking websites (to be used ethically), and why hacking is so useful.


Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
General, low-level HTML/JS knowledge is recommended. Knowledge of SQL is useful, but not required.

Keys, tables, strings, and dictionaries aren't just an odd collection of household items. This course will teach you how these concepts and more are used to build a database, and how databases get used by companies, governments and non-profits every day.

We'll also touch on SQL, the programming language usually used to manage data in a database.


Class Style
Tutorial

Prerequisites
This course will start from the basics, no background in computer science is needed!

Are you the type of person who finds pre-calc and algebra mundane, boring, and tedious? You're not alone! Too much math education today focuses on making you a calculator and passing AP's. In this class, we'll try to breathe some fresh air into your math education with some interesting challenges and problems. There is no test that these problems prepares you for, they exist simply to be solved and to enjoy doing so. Join this class if you have any interest in math and want to try something beyond your daily homework grind.

Side note: if you do enjoy your school math classes, there's nothing wrong with that :)


Class Style
Group-Based

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

"Genes are the blueprint of cell." You've probably heard that a million times at this point. But what if I told you that's a lie, and not only that, but that lie cost us billions of dollars! From famines to motherly love, we will explore the frontiers of how life experience alters our biology and how we pass on so much more than our DNA!


Class Style
Presentation/Lecture

Prerequisites
Some prior biology is recommended but not required

Feeling sleep deprived? Ever wonder why you STILL feel tired even after a nap or sleeping in? Want to know how to *actually* get a good night of sleep? Come learn about the science of sleep! We will learn about why sleep is so important and scientifically backed life hacks to get a better night of sleep.


Class Style
Presentation/Lecture

Are you looking for fun ways to help the environment? Learn about invasive species and how they impact native plants and animals, then make your own seed bombs with native wildflowers!


Class Style
Activity

If you're into things that glow, this is where you need to be. We're going to explore how to make plants glow (hint: its already been done).

Expect to learn about things way over your head in plant biology, don't worry about understanding anything!

In addition to the lecture, there is a super secret group activity that involves glowing stuff!


Class Style
Activity

Contrary to popular belief, cells are not giant balls of goo. They get pushed, pulled, and crushed billions of times throughout our lifetime. If they didn't have any structure, they would fall apart!

This is where the cytoskeleton comes in. Cyto referring to cell, and skeleton referring to, you guessed it, skeleton. This complex interconnected web of filaments and tubes works to keep your cells from falling apart at the seams.

Models you usually see can't fully depict the beauty of the cytoskeleton, which is why we'll be making a cooler model here!

Join us as we make a simple 3D model of a cell with clear gel. We'll be getting our hands dirty and our cells structured.

You'll get to keep your model too!


Class Style
Activity

Due to (the lack of) popular demand, Gaming: Explained is coming back for another go! After a minor setback due to a tiny little disease going around, I figured it's high time to get back to the one topic everyone can get behind: Gaming.
In this Re-Remastered edition, I've taken my previous material combined with my new gaming experiences over the pandemic to throw together a discussion of various genres of games with a focus on more popular and complicated games, along with a how-to for constructing a meta-game for a game night and some escape room tips and tricks.


Class Style
Presentation/Lecture

Have you ever experienced the wondrous world of Japanese culture?
We haven’t either! However, we do love manga and anime, and would love to discuss these topics with you!
Whether you consider yourself a proud weeb, Attack On Titan is your favorite anime, or you're just someone who wants to learn a bit more about a form of entertainment they don’t know that much about, this is the class for you!


We will be discussing multiple different genres of anime and manga to try to give a complete view of the meidums. Along the way, we'll give you some of our personal recommendations!

At the end, we'll open the class up if any of you want to recommend your own favorite shows.


Disclaimer: Since this does encompass an entire type of media, there may be some mention of some more extreme topics if we discuss specific anime or manga that make use of mature material. While there shouldn’t be anything foreign to a high schooler or offensive to anyone, we encourage an open mind when coming to this class.


Class Style
Presentation/Lecture

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

In this class, we will be going over how to play better in Smash Bros. Ultimate. The basics of the game and terminology for competitive smash will be taught and used. The class will begin with move set and which characters to use and then will progress to gameplay and improving gameplay.


Class Style
Group-Based