Our answer to this question is usually "Anything!" And that is the short answer. But many people have a hard time coming up with ideas for classes off the top of their heads. This page aims to fix that. What you'll find below is a summary of all the materials we have or can acquire easily for you, as well as a bunch of classes that have been suggested by past Splash and Spark students.
Materials we have or can get (Full list)
- Arts and crafts: popsicle sticks, fabric, glitter, etc.
- Paint (and rollers, brushes, tray, masks, etc.)
- Supplies to make dreamcatchers, henna, and plaster masks
- All the fixings for tie-dye, except the dye
- Balloons, helium regulator, water balloons
- Oscilloscope and function generator
- Sports equipment (frisbees, soccer balls, etc.)
- Large wooden compasses (for e.g. drawing large circles)
- Materials for speaker construction
- Axis and Allies (3 sets)
- Over 60 pairs of poi (made from pantyhose and tennis balls)
- Over 20 Rubik's cubes
Classes suggested by past students
- Archaeology
- Astronomy for non-physicists
- Beginner or advanced knitting
- Introduction to some exotic language (many, MANY students suggest language classes)
- Bubble tea-making
- Chess
- Programming in your language of choice
- Conversational sign language
- Ballroom dance
- Psychology, sociology, and/or criminology
- Comparative religion
- Autism spectrum disorders
- NaNoWriMo workshop
- Anatomy and/or dissection
If you're still out of ideas, check out old catalogs:
- Splash 2010 and 2011
- Spark 2011 and 2012
- HSSP Spring 2011, Summer 2011, Spring 2012, and Summer 2012
The fine print: you cannot...
Teach how to make [very] dangerous/illegal things (drugs, explosives)
For obvious legal and safety reasons, you cannot teach your students how to make illegal substances or explosive / highly corrosive / infectious materials. You are allowed to discuss the nature and/or structure of such substances, but we do ask to review syllabi for such classes.
Proselytize
ESP is a nonprofit organization with no religious affiliation. In keeping with the spirit of the MIT community, we respect everyone's right to their personal religious beliefs and ask that our students, teachers and administrators do the same. While we have had classes that explain customs, beliefs and structure of religions before (i.e. Early Christian History, Intro to the Baha'i Faith), we cannot allow any proselytizing or recruitment in our classes, nor any disrespect towards a person's religious affiliations or beliefs (or lack thereof). If you are interested in such work, there are many charitable organizations within the Boston area that are more suited. If a program participant (student or teacher) breaks these rules, we may and will ask them to leave the program.
Last modified by ejberg on Jan. 05, 2013 at 10:10 a.m.