Buxton School - Williamstown, Massachusetts

(2 semesters) offered ’08-‘09
This class explores the potential of the combination of written language and photographic images. The presupposition is that they each have the ability to communicate things that the other cannot; that each is apprehended by a different part or faculty of the viewer-reader. When they are combined, the whole must be interpreted in an entirely new way. We will be looking chiefly at the combination of the two as fine art. The main subject of investigation is the photograph accompanied by text, with material drawn from web comics, contemporary mixed-media photographers, newspaper headlines, collage artists, graphic novels, and new media.
A large assignment will be the creation and assembly of a small book of words combined with images. The physical art of bookmaking will be part of this elective.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This course introduces students to the various aspects of clay and the related disciplines of ceramics through demonstrations and experimentation during class time. As beginners, students learn to prepare clay for either throwing pieces on the potter’s wheel or hand building. Students then choose projects that interest them and work in the studio, both in and outside of class time. Students are encouraged to read about contemporary potters, sculptors, and artists in other media in order to gain a context for their personal work. Ultimately, students learn to articulate and refine their own ideas in clay.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This class is geared to students who feel comfortable centering and throwing four to five pounds of clay on the potter’s wheel and trimming and glazing their work. It is a structured class where the students, as a group, progress each week with a new in-class assignment. The assignments are meant to challenge each student’s abilities and strengthen their throwing technique. Each week the class stays focused on the idea of creating many pieces rather than trying to make one perfect piece, this way learning from mistakes made. In addition to working in the studio, students are expected to cover, trim and glaze their work outside of class. Students find a new love for the material and a close bond with each other as they advance through this exciting and challenging experience.

(one semester) not offered ’08-‘09
This course deals with the physical creation of images. Existing negatives and prints are examined and desirable aspects are identified. Students review concepts such as tonal range, curves, and maximum and minimum density, and gain a comprehensive overview of the underlying chemical and physical aspects of traditional black-and-white photography, with the intention of gaining control over the printing process.
This class defines photography as any process that creates an image using light. Beyond traditional black-and-white photography, but keeping an eye on key concepts like tonal range and curves, students make a variety of different types of photographic paper by hand using basic chemicals. Applying the scientific method to photography, and gaining practice in skills such as note-taking, record keeping, controlled experimentation, and laboratory maintenance, students re-develop historical processes using modern materials. Albumen (a handmade paper popular during the Twentieth Century using egg whites), carbon (where the image is pure carbon suspended in a layer of gelatin), and anthotypes (photographic images made from flower pigment) demonstrate three different ways that the physical and chemical action of light can be used to create images.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This course explores the possibilities of black-and-white photography through regular assignments, labs, slide lectures, museum visits, visiting artists, and critiques. Dealing with a wide range of subject matter, the course introduces students to the capabilities of the manual 35mm camera. Students also learn a variety of developing and printing techniques, which offers them the opportunity to discover the possibilities of photography as a means of personal artistic expression. Advanced students have the option to explore manipulation processes as well as the realm of digital photography using a Canon EOS-30 digital camera and Adobe Photoshop image-editing software.

(2 semesters) offered ’08-‘09
This class will focus on welding. We will also learn to use torches to shape metal pieces. In addition, the course will explore metal finishes such as patinas, brushed, distressed, painted, and found finishes. Students will work primarily with found metal. We will explore different sources like the town dump and auto shops with unusable parts.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Through exploration in painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, fabrics, found objects, and mixed media, students can begin to articulate their artistic visions. Projects are defined through individual discussion. Students are encouraged and introduced to use a broad range of materials. What inspires the student determines which methods of working, materials, and ideas are explored. Throughout, students begin to relate their daily experience to the process of making art.
Students can take structured art classes that offer formal skill sets in drawing, painting and printmaking with an emphasis on balancing direct, observational skills with expressive, independent work. There also is the opportunity to take ‘open studio’ classes where students can work independently on any idea with almost any medium; instruction is available and responsive to individual projects.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Video production is offered as a single semester class, both in the fall and the spring. The fall is focused on the actual production-end of making movies: all the steps that it takes to go from an idea to a DVD. Each student will create a project and see it through to the end. Examples of possibilities are making mockumentaries, mock public service announcements, narratives, documentaries and music videos. It is possible for a student to make multiple movies during this time. In the spring, students start off working with the video-editing software, Final Cut, learning how to capture video, manage project files, utilize Final Cut’s editing tools, understand how to use transitions and effects, export video and burn it to DVD. Once students have a strong understanding of the software, the focus will turn towards using the newly acquired skills to produce films of high production quality.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
The Drama I class is designed primarily for freshmen and sophomores (with the occasional junior). The goal of this class is to expose beginning drama students to all aspects of theatre through a series of small-scale productions. Having this be a performing class is essential: it is only through the experience of performing that a student can come to understand the fundamental nature of theatre, that it is a shared experience between audience and actor.
It is also crucial that students feel that particular thrill of performing to understand why acting is such an extraordinary and rewarding craft. Through these productions, students are also exposed to all aspects of theatre: we read and choose plays together (debating the merits and performability of each), collect and/or make props, choose and fit costumes, design and build set pieces, and make choices about lighting. Students also learn basic drama terminology and skills—the areas of the stage, how to project and stay “open,” how to memorize lines and pick up their cues. Over the course of the year—and three or four productions that can range from Monty Python skits to comedic one-acts by David Ives to serious one-acts like The Lottery or The Long Christmas Dinner—the hope is that the student will grow both as an actor and as a person. We expect to see more comfort and risk-taking, more willingness and confidence on stage.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Drama II is an upper-level elective class that assumes that the enrollees have a passionate interest in theatre, and are not just getting their feet wet. With that premise in mind, we start each year with monologues, an always challenging and risky undertaking for the aspiring actor. The students are involved in the selection of their individual material, and the monologues provide an important opportunity for close, one-on-one work. The current curriculum becomes more variable after the performance of the monologues at the Fall Arts Festival. In the past, it has included work on scenes of two or more actors, one-acts and full-length plays. Recently, the spring term has become a bit more experimental, as we have approached different kinds of work without a published script. This has included generating our own scripts for a Commedia dell Arte style performance, mask work, and improvisational exercises around opposites, character status, the Elements, the Seven Deadly Sins, the Virtues, and others.

(full year) offered ’08-’09
This class is intended to serve three functions. First, it is an introduction to the infinite pleasures and possibilities of literature. By looking at a selection of contemporary novels and classic texts, we will begin to consider them individually and in relation to each other. The year begins with a study of short fiction; (Donald Barthelme, Carolyn Ferrell, Raymond Carver, Tobias Wolff, Lorrie Moore, and William Carlos Williams) but moves on to various other genres in literature in order to expose the students to a multitude of ideas, styles and histories. Second, the course serves as a preliminary briefing in the language and conceptual frames which contemporary scholars, critics and theorists use to make sense of literature. Third, the class is an opportunity for the student to improve his or her reading, writing and speaking skills. Students will learn to critically interpret and articulate their own ideas effectively in careful analysis and personal response to the topics at hand.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Sophomore English is meant to be a time of exposure, discovery, and analysis. Building on the passion for literature that students bring from their freshman experience, students must now start to “look behind the curtain,” to see how writing works. How does an author build a book? How does she create meaning? And how can a student do the same with his or her own writing? The course is designed to expose students to as many different kinds of writing and writers as possible. Plays, poetry, short stories, novellas, novels, and graphic novels are all included in the reading. Authors range from William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Franz Kafka to Gabriel García Márquez, Art Spiegelman, Jamaica Kincaid, and Barbara Kingsolver. Students also do a great deal of writing in the course, with assignments ranging from short analytical essays to long papers to original short stories to comics to poems. Finally, the course emphasizes engaged discussion, in the process helping students begin to make connections between the books themselves, between literature and life, and between their emerging ideas and their work as writers.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
The class will read Tolstoy’s War and Peace over the course of the fall term. Daily discussions will focus on the rich emotional and moral world that Tolstoy uniquely creates. In the first half of the term there will be weekly in-class writing assignments. Later in the fall, students will write an original short story that will include some Tolstoian themes and techniques. A major expository essay on the novel will fall due before the December vacation. The winter term will focus on a selection of short stories and three short novels by D.H. Lawrence. Again, there will be two major writing assignments. In the spring we will read King Lear, and the year will end with a study of selected poetry and letters of John Keats.

Seniors will choose one of two electives offered each semester, each taught by a different teacher. These courses will continue to develop, on a more advanced level, many of the theoretical and aesthetic ideas explored in the previous three years. Student writing, class reading and discussion are at the center of the courses.
Coming to America (1 semester)
In this course we will ask what it means to say that the U.S. is a nation of immigrants, and how fictional narratives can help us to understand the implications of such a claim. What is “the immigrant story”? Are there literary conventions that “Coming to America” stories share? Is the United States truly a “melting pot,” as it is so often described? We will examine short stories, novels and films to explore diverse immigrant experiences and to think critically about the questions of identity—individual, group, and national assimilation and nationalism. All American novels (with the exception of those written by Native Americans) are in one way or another immigrant fiction. Our major texts will include Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban, Junot Díaz’s new book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, plus an additional exciting text. We will try to watch a film weekly and will consider the following: Alan Crosland’s The Jazz Singer, Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant, Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and Wayne Wang’s Chan is Missing.
Think About Life: Representations of Consciousness in the Modern and Postmodern Novel (1 semester)
This course will examine a handful of techniques that writers have used over the past century and a half to depict thought—a largely non-verbal process for many of us—with words. The centerpiece of the course will be Virginia Woolf’s 1927 novel To the Lighthouse, an almost plotless story told over two days by drifting through the mental perspective of its cast of characters. As an introduction to Woolf’s style, we will read Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel Atonement, in which a central character, who goes on to write like Woolf, has a major realization about life and thought as she makes a terrible error of perception. After the spring vacation, we will move into some darker territory with Knut Hamsun’s 1890 novel Hunger, which follows the frantic, anxious thoughts of a man living in poverty and attempting to find a place for himself in a society he rejects. To end the term, we will read one of William Faulkner’s novels, all of which are interested in exploring the vagaries of human psychology and the ways they can be represented in stories. Besides the content of the novels, this course will examine various ideas about human psychology by reading short stories, poems and essays by the likes of Sigmund Freud, T.S. Eliot, Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov and Joan Didion. A brief warning: With the exclusion of Atonement, most of the works we will be reading in this class are widely considered “difficult” or “experimental.” They are often purposefully hard to follow and rarely follow satisfying plotlines. Your status in the class will depend on pushing yourself to make sense of some challenging books.

(one semester) offered ’08-‘09
Shakespeare has influenced the literature and language of the past few centuries more than any other writer. This class studies Shakespeare as a key to literary tradition. The emphasis is on understanding Shakespeare through reading the plays aloud. To prepare for an intentional and conscious reading, we use “analysis” and “paraphrasis.” We also examine literary and rhetorical devices used in the Shakespearean canon. The concurrent motivation is getting to spend time with some of the greatest writing in the English language. Plays read may include As You Like It, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Winter’s Tale, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, The Sonnets as well as works by Euripides, Ben Jonson, and contemporary playwrights.

(one semester) not offered ’08-‘09
Poetry is the art form that most asks us to stop and be still. To read a poem is to slow down and focus your intellect, senses, and emotions onto a small group of words and to let their meaning work on and through you. To write a poem is to think about language, sensation, and feeling in a distilled and deliberate manner and to translate experience into precise and economical language.
Throughout the term, as both readers and writers, students will practice the demanding skills of poetry. The study of poetry will be approached through a series of poetic forms as a way of exploring what poetry is, what makes it different than prose (or any other art form, for that matter), and what different formal structures do to language and experience. Because free verse has become the default setting for most poetry writing, of particular interest will be the more structured poetic forms and the effect they have on reading and writing of poetry. What can you say with a sonnet? How does rhyme affect meaning? What makes a villanelle powerful? Members of the class will look at and experience the constant tension between powerful emotion and disciplined expression that defines poetry through reading new and old poems, and writing and sharing their own. This elective is open to all grades.

(full year) not offered ’08-‘09
This course will explore a variety of topics concerning the Third World via a sample of literature from and about nations designated under this label. It will seek to provide perspectives that often remain untold in the West (and will ask why these perspectives do often remain untold). Through the use of novels, short stories, graphic novels, and poetry this course will investigate local traditions: the daily lives, religious rituals, political practices, et cetera of those areas that specific writings address. In so doing, this course will also require students to think about broader patterns common to the Third World: colonization, poverty, cultural imperialism, and emigration, among many others.

(one semester) offered ’08-‘09
A junior/senior literature elective, this class will explore the big themes that arise in the Twentieth Century. We will discuss the characteristics that define Modernism and Postmodernism. We will also examine how colonialism, the two world wars, the Cold War, and globalization have impacted the questions that literature sought to answer over this 100-year span. This class will address books that hail from all over the world, although more emphasis will be placed on the West (Europe and the U.S.), particularly in the first half of the course.

(full year) not offered ’08-‘09
This course introduces a form of the language known as Modern Standard Arabic that is used in schools, books, newspapers and on television throughout the Middle East. Students learn to read and write using the Arabic script rather than relying on transliteration. Time is also devoted to the development of listening and conversation skills. The course is open to students who have completed the third year of another foreign language.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Levels I and II stress basic language skills with emphasis on reading, writing, and conversation and offer glimpses into the cultural life of the French-speaking world.
Level III presents an intensive grammar review along with an introduction to modern French prose. Written expression is stressed through frequent compositions. A full-length novel or play is read during the last term.
Level IV, while including a review of grammar, is primarily a literature course in which complete novels, plays, and poetry are studied in depth. Works studied in recent years include medieval poetry and tales; novels by Guy de Maupassant, André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Marguerite Duras, and Jean-Marie-Gustave Le Clézio; plays of Jean Baptiste Molière; and works of major poets such as Charles Baudelaire, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, and Arthur Rimbaud.
Level V is an advanced literature course and is individually arranged.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This course, a study in the basics of Indonesian (Malay) language, will focus on grammar, vocabulary and conversation. The course is open to students who have completed the third year of another foreign language.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Levels I and II introduce beginning students to basic reading, writing, and listening skills using an immersion approach. Students are exposed to the richness and diversity of Hispanic culture. These courses are designed to provide the students with basic and intermediate grammar so that they can engage in conversation about daily life in different speaking styles, to develop a general knowledge about Spanish culture, and to introduce students to Hispanic literary texts from both sides of the Atlantic. The first term is dedicated to reviewing grammar and to introducing more complex grammatical patterns that will enable the student to gain a better proficiency of the Spanish language. During the second term, oral skills will be improved through class conversations. Finally, students will take on more advanced readings in Spanish. The selections will be diverse, ranging from comics to serious literary texts. More activities, like cooking, plays, typical games, and celebrations of Hispanic National Holidays will be scheduled during the year. The language used in class will be mainly Castilian, with special emphasis on Hispanic-American forms to provide the students with a real practical language they will be able to use in their future interactions.
Level III emphasizes an intensive grammar review. Written skills are stressed through composition, creative writing, and poetry. Coursework and class discussion will focus on Spanish and Latin American history and culture. Language immersion is a constant at this level.
Level IV is mainly a literature course in which short stories, novels, plays, and poetry are studied in depth. A general review of grammar is included as well. Works by Calderón de la Barca, Miguel de Unamuno, Federico García Lorca, Rubén Darío, Gabriela Mistral, Gabriel García Márquez, Claribel Alegría, and Pablo Neruda are studied, in addition to Latin American myths and legends. Students will be capable not only of expository reading and writing, but of more critical literary analysis, engaging with literary movements, authors, styles, works, genres and literary terms. By the end of the year, students will be able to produce college-level academic essays.
Level V is an advanced conversation and literature course.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This course provides an introduction to algebraic properties and expressions. Topics include the study of equations and inequalities in one variable, work with polynomials and exponents, and graphing of linear equations. Students also begin solving and graphing systems of linear equations. A brief introduction to quadratic forms is included.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This is a second-year high-school algebra course designed to develop proficiency in mathematical skills, to solidify an understanding of mathematical concepts, and to encourage logical yet creative thinking. Class sizes are kept small so that students have every opportunity to achieve success and gain confidence in their ability to do mathematics.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This course is offered to advanced students who thoroughly enjoy the application of complex mathematical concepts. The primary function is to demonstrate the enjoyment that is present in higher-level mathematics. As with most calculus courses, the first term concentrates on differential calculus and the second on integral calculus. Although there is some emphasis on application, a secure grasp of the fundamental concepts is also stressed.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Some of the major theorems of calculus will be examined in this yearlong course, along with their proofs and their significance, including Green’s Theorem, Stokes’ Theorem, and Gauss’s Theorem. Time will be spent developing some of the tools needed for these proofs and moving deeper into mathematical topics, such as differentiation and integration with polar, spherical, and cylindrical coordinates. Other topics to be covered include Taylor’s formula and its derivation, vector functions, and proofs of fundamental concepts (continuity, convergence). A year of calculus is required for this class.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Geometrical relationships and the structures of logic are the two main themes of this course. The topics are explored in such a way that students discover and define the fundamental relationships as a class throughout the year. The basics of plane geometry and symmetry are covered, along with an introduction to the geometry of the solids and beginning trigonometry. Deductive and inductive reasoning are woven in throughout the topics, thus developing a system of logical thought that is intended to contribute, not only to other math and science courses, but to all areas of study. Students have the opportunity to pursue a number of independent projects throughout the year.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Designed to prepare students for college-level calculus, this is a fast-paced course. Questions are continually asked that go beyond the immediate problem being examined. Topics covered include graphing techniques, trigonometry, vectors, conic sections, transcendental functions, polar coordinates, and sequences and series. There is an introduction to the concepts of calculus at the end of the year.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This course offers a comprehensive investigation of the art of music. The class will study music from different cultures and from many time periods. The theoretical emphasis focuses on the notated traditions of the world. Students can then use any of these systems as a basis for their own compositions. Specific areas of study include theory: acoustics, basic fundamentals, traditional harmonic and contrapuntal functions; ear training: rhythmic and melodic dictation and sight singing; analysis: listening and analyzing with full scores, observing historical cycles; and composition: original work written and performed by class participants, faculty, and adjunct faculty. Composing original pieces enables students to participate in the most basic creative act of music and it becomes the common denominator of the class experience. All students, regardless of previous background, share equally in this fundamental musical process.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
These are upper-level courses intended primarily for students planning to continue music study at the college level. Score reading and analysis of a variety of music are an integral part of this class. For the most part, performance consists of ensemble sight-reading and performance preparation techniques, including many aspects of improvisation. All student compositions are performed and recorded throughout the year.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
Lessons in piano, voice, and most instruments can be arranged.

(one semester) offered ’08-‘09
The class will be ordered somewhat chronologically. We will start with historical astronomy: Stonehenge, the Mayan calendar, Chinese & Egyptian astronomy, Lakota stone medicine wheels, etc. Then we will address the Copernican sun-centered vs. earth-centered controversy of the 1600s. The middle of the semester will involve studying stars, our solar system and others, and the universe, including Einstein’s theories of relativity. We will end the spring looking at some of the current questions in astronomy: dark matter, extra-solar planets, wormholes and the like.
There will be both papers and projects along with readings and several class presentations. Readings will be primarily from current articles rather than a textbook. We will often use computer-based lab work. Students can expect extra “lab time” in the evenings most weeks, either for telescope work or for viewing science documentaries.

(one semester) offered ’08-‘09
Behavioral and Chemical Addiction Studies (BCAS) will introduce and explore the broad topic of addiction and compulsion in Homo sapiens. Through readings and presentations, students will share historical and scientific knowledge pertaining to: neurological roots of behavior, chemistry of the brain, addiction history, proximate and ultimate causes of addiction, toxicology, drug use and abuse, and addiction treatment methods. The course will entail a significant presentation component, as well as several mandatory out-of-class field trips and two research papers. Class attendance and participation will comprise a major part of the final grade in BCAS. The course is limited to 12 students, with one full year of biology prerequisite.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
In the fall term biology concentrates on the topics of cell biology and human physiology as an introduction to the fundamentals of the subject. All the systems of the body are discussed and explored, including a detailed section on the brain and nervous system. In the winter term, the focus is on genetics, looking into the workings of DNA and genes, and discussing current issues in genetic technology. In the spring, the main topic is evolution, looked at through the lens of the unique organisms that have evolved in island environments, such as the hotspots of the Galapagos, Hawaii and Indonesia. All three terms involve weekly labs and several research papers. The spring term includes an independent research project as well, the results of which are presented at the Spring Arts Weekend. Buxton’s extensive campus and new greenhouse provide excellent opportunities for many of these labs and projects.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This college-preparatory laboratory science is primarily for juniors and seniors. Topics covered include atomic theory, phase changes, origins and significance of the periodic chart, quantum mechanics, chemical reactions, acid-base relationships, oxidation-reduction principles, and an expanded section on organic chemistry. Whenever possible, discussions are geared to helping students gain an understanding of the principles and mechanics of natural phenomena as well as modern technological advances.

(one semester) offered fall ’08-‘09
Environmental Studies is an interdisciplinary field that covers the many ways in which our species, Homo sapiens, interacts with the living community and the nonliving environment of our planet. We will touch on the major concepts of environmental studies, including conservation of species, climate change, pollution, resource depletion, population growth, etc. We will also attempt to bring the focus back to our local environment: that of the Buxton campus and of the surrounding geographical area, in an attempt to address the sustainability of our own lives and to find creative ways to make a positive impact. In short, we’ll be thinking globally and acting locally. The course will have a significant reading component, numerous weekend field trips, and a major project at the end of the course. There is also a recommended summer reading book, titled Collapse, by anthropologist Jared Diamond. The course is limited to students who have completed biology.

(one semester) offered ’08-‘09
This course is a general introduction to both the structures and topics of geology. Geology is one of the newest of the “classical” sciences, and as such there is a great deal of current research that is expanding the body of knowledge. The term begins with learning to identify mineral and rock types. Using those fundamentals, we move on to studying plate tectonics, and the relationship to both earthquakes and volcanos. We will also look at the effects of water, wind and ice, including the formation and unique environments of caves. Lab work is included on a regular basis and involves both hands-on experience and mapping projects. In addition to the four class periods each week, students are expected to spend some time beyond the class day, during afternoons, evenings or weekends, for field trips and science documentaries. The class involves reading geological histories and essays, current articles and a text for background material. In addition to regular reading, there are several short papers and a couple of independent projects.

(full year) not offered ’08-‘09
This elective is made up of two semester-long courses that can be taken independently of each other, but are designed to go together for the year. Class work for both courses centers around regular individual readings of current articles and then presentations by the students to the rest of the group on a weekly basis. This seminar style requires that everyone be extremely responsible about meeting his or her individual work expectations. There are also several papers assigned throughout the year, usually two in the fall, one in the winter, and two in the spring term. The class will involve some hands-on labs and then more extensive fieldwork is included during a trip to the coast in the spring.
Oceanography (one semester)
The fall semester looks at the ocean in depth as a worldwide ecosystem, and as a subject that is studied using all the various fields of science. The course starts with the physics and chemistry of the world’s seas: salt water components, currents, tides, tsunamis (“tidal” waves), the Gulf Stream, and the El Niño-type weather patterns that are caused by the relationships of wind and water. Then it focuses on the structures of the ocean basins: the ocean floor, undersea volcanos and deep-sea vents, and the edges of the sea. From geology, this leads into studying the different ecosystems and environments in the ocean: the deep sea, the polar seas, rocky- and sandy- shores, coral reefs, mangrove swamps and salt marshes, and the open ocean itself.
Marine Biology (one semester)
In January the course moves into a survey of marine organisms, looking particularly at the adaptations that creatures make for life in the oceans. It starts with the very small—the little known viruses and bacteria in the seas—and moves on to marine plants, and invertebrate organisms. In the spring term we study the marine vertebrates—fish, sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals—focusing on animal behavior, and ending with a special concentration on the cetaceans (whales and dolphins). Along the way many of the topics will address various environmental issues and discuss human use and development of the ocean’s resources.

(full year) offered ’08-‘09
This course is designed to prepare students for college-level physics as well as to let them learn and work with the laws of the world around them. The fall term focuses on the fundamentals of Newtonian mechanics, work, and energy. The winter moves on to the properties of waves, including sound and light, optics, and electro-magnetism. The spring concludes with a survey of modern physics: astronomy, relativity, and quantum mechanics. Due to the importance of mathematical descriptions in all these topics, Algebra II is a prerequisite for physics.
Weekly labs allow students to make direct connections between theory and practice and to develop experimental procedures. Students also complete several independent or joint projects throughout the year with emphasis on exploration and design, which may be presented during Spring Arts Weekend.

(one semester) not offered ’08-‘09
We will explore the human mind from the perspective of neurobiology. Equipped with colored pencils, Oliver Sacks and V.S. Ramachandran, we will examine various aspects of brain structure and function (and damage and dysfunction) and their relationship to emotions, language, thought, visual knowledge and consciousness. Some of the ideas we will take up are well agreed upon—for example, basic information about genes and evolution and brain structure—although new discoveries are continually being made. Others, like the structure of the mind, the reality of conscious will, and the nature of consciousness, remain controversial. Students should be prepared to entertain concepts that are non-intuitive and to be receptive to ideas that run counter to one’s common sense. This will be a writing-intensive course.