Spark 2020
Course Catalog


Filter Catalog by Grade:

Jump to Categories
Visual and Performing Arts [Deprecated] Computers and Programming
[Deprecated] Engineering [Deprecated] Humanities
Lunch [Deprecated] Life Sciences
Mathematics Pop (and not-so-pop) Culture
[Deprecated] Physical Sciences [Deprecated] Walk-in Activity
Miscellaneous Social Studies

Visual and Performing Arts

[ Return to Category List ]

A13746: Introduction to West Coast Swing
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Rose Miller, Rohit Venugopal

Have you wanted to try dance, but not sure where to start? Try West Coast Swing! West Coast can be danced just about anywhere to a range of music from blues to the Top 40. We will be covering basic moves (right side pass, left side pass, sugar push, and whips) as well as social dancing. You don't need a partner to take the class, just come ready to dance! Make sure to either bring shoes you can dance in or a pair of socks. Join us for a day of fun and music!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 17 (max 32)


A13789: Building and Performing the Tiny House Illusion Full!
Difficulty: ****
Teachers: Sebastian Bilash, Paul McDermott

A13939: Intro to Lighting Production and Design Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Julian Espada, Montse Garza, Mariia Smyk

A13900: Introduction to Animation Drawing Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Grace Cai, Laura Cui

A13808: Origami design Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Crystal Owens

A13907: Visualizing Music: from Scores through Animations Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Samuel Tenka

A13945: Sing a capella with the Toons! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Shardul Chiplunkar, Joonho Ko

A13798: Make and Play a Didgeridoo Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Kevin Ellis, James Koppel

A13806: Introduction to Rendering & Collaging Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Jackie Lin, Michelle Menkiti

A13966: The Music of Celeste Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Andrew Lin, Jeffery Yu

A13822: Candle Making 101 Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Joseph Berleant, Krista Pullen

A13713: Music of Frozen 1 vs. 2 Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Emma Liu, Julia Wang

A13714: Asymptones A Cappella Workshop Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Andrea Lo, Alexandra Stewart, Julia Wang

A13765: Modular Origami Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sophie Mori, Sarah Weidman

[Deprecated] Computers and Programming

[ Return to Category List ]

C13722: Sharing Secrets: An Introduction to Cryptography Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Katherine Huang, CJ Quines

C13898: How to Be a Turing Machine Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Grace Cai, Matthew Cox, Jerry Mao, Wayne Zhao

C13941: Introduction to Python Programming Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Haijia Wang, Sirena Yu

C13834: Programming Languages: History and Types
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Charlie DeLorey

Do you like programming? Do you find yourself thinking about Python or C++ and thinking, "why is this language like this?" In this course, you will learn about the history of programming languages from the very beginning to the present day, as well as important features of programming languages that make them stand out from all the rest.


Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
A general interest in programming/programming languages will help, as I will be introducing important programming terms fairly quickly.
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 3:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
8 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 47 (max 200)


C13886: Information Psychology and Surveillance in the Modern Era Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Christo Keller, Weiming Qin

C13936: Scratch! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Katarina Bulovic, Matthew Ellison, Patrick Wang

C13969: Hello GitHub Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Shinjini Ghosh, Aparna Ajit Gupte

C13910: Artificially Not-Very-Intelligent Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Jenna Himawan

C13888: Acting Out Algorithms: Fancy Math but with Strings, Coloring, and Ice Cream Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sage Simhon, Sarah Wertheimer

C13918: Minecraft SUPERComputer Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Christopher Evagora, Ahmed Katary, Nicolas Suter

C13921: Intro to Python Programming Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sonia Moreno

C13783: Let's Chance: Learn and Play with Probabilistic Coding in Scratch
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Shruti Dhariwal, Manuj Dhariwal

Come and explore the new Let’s Chance extension in Scratch, and tinker with ideas of probability and randomness by creating projects with an element of unpredictability! Using the extension’s new code blocks, you can now create a virtual dice in Scratch with any number of sides—each side can be a sound, costume, text, number, or even some real world data. You can dynamically change the chance and likelihood of different outcomes, and make your projects react differently each time you roll one or more dice. Hook the extension with other Scratch extensions such as, Video Sensing, Music, or Text-to-Speech for lots of playful possibilities. Create projects like— generative music, art, or text; chance-based games/stories/animations; interactive visualizations; teaching a computer how to draw, and many others!


Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
Some experience with Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) is preferred, although not necessary.
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--12:55pm
Section 2: Sun 1:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 17 (max 25)
Section 2: Full! (max 25)


C13913: How to Make the Perfect Button with CSS Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Brian Chen, Sophie Mori

[Deprecated] Engineering

[ Return to Category List ]

E13865: Designing Power Grids of the Future Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Anthony Cheng, Jack Cook

E13820: how 2 rocket
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Maddie Garcia, Ethan Sit

how 2 become e l o n in one hour


Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
algae bra basic phsyics
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--11:55am
Section 2: Sat 12:05pm--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 127 (max 200)
Section 2: 104 (max 200)


E13906: Everything you want to know about nuclear power Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Isaac Meyer, Patrick White

E13927: Product Design Workshop: Natural Disaster Relief Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Megan Ochalek, Abby Stein

E13772: Robots: Past, Present, & Future Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Matthew Chignoli

E13784: Intro to Computer Aided Design (CAD) with TinkerCAD Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Michelle Lee, Janice Tjan

E13710: Intro to Soldering Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Matthew Cox, CJ Quines, Pranali Vani

E13848: Energy Technology Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Emily Kerr

E13850: BRIDGE DESIGN! Help Chickens Finally Cross the Road! Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Stephanie Baez, Viban Gonzales, Chiharu Watanabe

E13715: Introduction to CMOS Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Maitreyi Ashok

E13951: How to Spot Planes! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Jay Hilton

E13964: Living on Mars Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Bruce Mackenzie

[Deprecated] Humanities

[ Return to Category List ]

H13958: The Explosion of the Poem
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Shuli Jones, Avery Nguyen

How did we go from the strict structure of sonnets to the wild world of free verse? From a dreamy movement in love with the natural world to modernist poems that find meaning in nothing at all? From lengthy epics to Anne Carson's "novel in verse"? In short - how did poetry become what it is today? Let's read some poems, talk about it, and maybe find out.


Class Style
Seminar
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--10:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 14 (max 22)


H13718: Japanese for Beginners: Spoken and Written Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Sarah Davis, Steve Nelson

H13758: Consonant Phonology: Strange Sounds of the World's Languages
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Roan LaPlante

In this course we will go over the theory, anatomy, and orthography (International Phonetic Alphabet) of different consonant sounds, including sounds in English and lots of amazingly fun sounds that are not at all like sounds in English.

This is a very interactive course, with an emphasis on speech production.


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 20 (max 30)


H13893: Introduction to Old Icelandic
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Christo Keller, Weiming Qin

A brief introduction to Old West Norse, the literary and practical language of Iceland around the turn of the millennium: onwards from the island's Norse settlement in 874. We'll quickly run over the history of the people of Iceland and their language's grammar, and spend some time trying to parse some easy texts from authentic Icelandic.


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 17 (max 30)


H13759: Vowel Phonology: Sounds of the World's Englishes
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Roan LaPlante

In this course we will go over the theory, anatomy, and orthography (International Phonetic Alphabet) of different vowel sounds.

Because English has one of the most complex vowel phonologies in the world, we will primarily compare dialects of English, but we will also discuss some vowel systems in the other languages of the world.

This is a very interactive course, with an emphasis on speech production.


Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
It is suggested for students to take the companion course on consonant sounds, but not required.
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 12 (max 26)


H13877: "Superman/woman" and Science Fiction/Fantasy
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sherene Raisbeck, Josh Shaine

Science Fiction and Fantasy have many characters who stick out compared to others because they have more magic, different powers, unique abilities.

We will look at how these characters are treated by the worlds in which they are set and reflect on what, if anything, this says about the society in which we live.


Class Style
Discussion

Prerequisites
Must read, listen to, or watch science fiction and/or fantasy.
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 24 (max 25)


H13894: Readings in Old Icelandic
Difficulty: ****
Teachers: Christo Keller, Weiming Qin

Can't get enough Old Norse at Spark? Come read through the first few paragraphs of an actual Icelandic saga in the original!


Class Style
Discussion

Prerequisites
Register for the Spark course "Introduction to Old Icelandic", or be familiar with the language. We'll gloss pretty much every word beforehand so that you won't have to know much.
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 12 (max 16)


H13741: Uncovering Ireland and the American Irish
Difficulty: *
Teachers: H. Alex Chen

This lecture will address the influence of the Irish diaspora in America. The lecture begins with the mass immigration caused by the Great Famine in Ireland and examines the impacts and contributions of those Irish immigrants in America. It will assess how Irish Americans build their Irish identity in America following the mass migration and the ways which identity structures are affected by migration and exile. Briefly, the lecture will discuss Irish Americans' political influence, towards the U.S. and Ireland.

Together, we will discuss the history and symbolic significance of St. Patrick's Day celebration in America and the future of Ireland.


Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
None. However, students who have taken "Irish Presence in America" in previous programs should not register this course.
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 30 (max 134)


H13879: Introduction to ASL Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Nancy Hidalgo

H13792: Making deep friendships - Circling Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Rajashree Agrawal, Jason Gross

H13828: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: A Lesson in Solidarity and Organization
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Leif Clark, Rafael Olivera-Cintron

We will be explaining the concept, threats to, and necessity of solidarity through the lens of class struggle and labor history. We will be concluding with small-group discussions about how to apply the lessons learned to organize effective student unions.


Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
an interest in the promoting the common good
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sat 3:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 8 (max 30)
Section 2: 15 (max 30)


H13872: Space Opera: Space Craft, Colonies, and Aliens! Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Sherene Raisbeck, Josh Shaine

H13885: Understanding Your Past, Present, and Future: A Philosophical Approach Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Anupa Dhungel, Christiana Kalfas

H13844: Writing Mystery Stories Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Julian Hernandez

H13889: How to Negotiate Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Shreya Pandit, Lily Zhang

H13791: Circling - Intersubjective Mindfulness Meditation Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Rajashree Agrawal, Jason Gross

H13874: Magic Systems in Fantasy Stories Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sherene Raisbeck, Josh Shaine

H13811: Evolution of Writing Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Yale Zussman

H13860: The First Age of Middle-Earth Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Jack Eastman, Eric Wooten

H13963: Women Writing Poems: A (Very) Abridged History Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Shuli Jones, Avery Nguyen

[Deprecated] Life Sciences

[ Return to Category List ]

L13878: Perceptions and Illusions through the 5 Senses Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Joachim Kennedy, Cindy Si

L13899: Intro to Neuroscience: Understanding Human Vision Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Emma Qin, Christina Wang

L13807: CRISPR: Hacking the Genome
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Pranam Chatterjee

Human-animal hybrids? Superhumans? Designer babies? While these futuristic visions may be considered unethical (but surprisingly not undoable), genome editing already holds the keys to transforming humanity as we know it. The repurposing of the CRISPR system for genome editing has enabled the rapid development and refinement of tools to further basic research, develop therapies for human diseases, and promise numerous breakthroughs in agriculture, bioenergy, food security, nanotechnology, and a host of other applications. Come to this class to learn more about how CRISPR works and what improvements we are making to the system to enable its broad applicability all from a CRISPR engineer!


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 121 (max 200)


L13859: Food Chemistry Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Benjamin Gutierrez, Clair Travis

L13970: How to deliver drugs Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Michelle Lee

L13931: Microbiome 101: What's in your poop? Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Prachi Sinha, Tzu-Chieh Tang

L13825: Diving Deeper: An Opulent Ocean Odyssey Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Michael Dotzel, Alexandra Jones, Arianna Krinos

L13882: ANT Farm: Acronym Not Tenable Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Carol Pan, Rachel Shen

L13935: Save the Turtles ??? Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Sebastian Bilash, Kevin Bilash

L13967: Evolutionary Psychology: Why we act in the way we do Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Michelle Lee

L13800: Fundamentals of the CRISPR-Cas9 World Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Stuti Khandwala, Parul Singh

L13849: Colors in nature Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Tetiana Husak

L13911: Tasteful Genetics Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Jiayi Dong, Seung-Hyun Ko, Alexis Schneider

L13861: Marine Toxins Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Maggie Libby

L13891: Psychiatric and Neurological Disorder Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Nicholas Jean, Lauren MacLachlan

L13892: This is Your Brain on Drugs Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Nicholas Jean, Lauren MacLachlan

L13814: Biology and Ecology in the Amazon
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Jonathan Sandlin, Swochchhanda Shrestha

Have you ever dreamed about swinging through the jungle? Ever wanted to learn how the jungle even came to be? Come join us as we dive into the world's largest rainforest and take a closer look at life!


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--12:55pm
Section 2: Sat 2:05pm--3:55pm
Section 3: Sun 11:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 21 (max 36)
Section 2: 35 (max 36)
Section 3: 38 (max 40)


Lunch

[ Return to Category List ]

L13975: Lunch Period
Difficulty: None
Teachers:

Enjoy a break for lunch with your friends! Please register for at least one lunch period on each day of the program.
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--12:55pm
Section 2: Sat 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 12
Enrollment
Section 1: 620 (max 1000000)
Section 2: 640 (max 1000000)


L13976: Lunch Period
Difficulty: None
Teachers:

Enjoy a break for lunch with your friends! Please register for at least one lunch period on each day of the program.
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 12:05pm--12:55pm
Section 2: Sun 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 12
Enrollment
Section 1: 696 (max 1000000)
Section 2: 564 (max 1000000)


Mathematics

[ Return to Category List ]

M13943: Quick Mafs Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Paolo Adajar, Andrew Lin

M13866: Sperner's Lemma
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Mark Jabbour, Arvid Lunnemark

Learn about Sperner's Lemma, a combinatorial result with surprising applications! The result combines graph theory and geometry, and we will prove it together as a class.

Despite not requiring any advanced mathematical knowledge, Sperner's Lemma is surprisingly useful! We will show how it can be used to split desserts in the fairest way possible (which is very cool!!).


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 15 (max 16)


M13887: Category Theory: An Introduction to Category Theory, a Theory of Categories
Difficulty: ****
Teachers: Christo Keller, Weiming Qin

``I can illustrate the ... approach with the ... image of a nut to be opened. The first analogy that came to my mind is of immersing the nut in some softening liquid, and why not simply water? From time to time you rub so the liquid penetrates better, and otherwise you let time pass. The shell becomes more flexible through weeks and months — when the time is ripe, hand pressure is enough, the shell opens like a perfectly ripened avocado! A different image came to me a few weeks ago. The unknown thing to be known appeared to me as some stretch of earth or hard marl, resisting penetration ... the sea advances insensibly in silence, nothing seems to happen, nothing moves, the water is so far off you hardly hear it ... yet finally it surrounds the resistant substance.''

—Alexander Grothendieck on simplicity and generality


Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
Division Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 7 (max 12)


M13881: A Taste of Topology Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Dominick Joo, Albert Liu, Tom Panenko

M13915: How to turn $100k into $100 in a day Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Milo Cress, Robert Cunningham

M13934: Dissections and Tessellations Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Vincent Huang, Rachana Madhukara

M13855: Clock arithmetic Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Dylan Pentland, Brandon Yue

M13870: List of Paradoxes Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sujay Kazi

M13902: The Math Behind How Our Economy Works Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: George Tang, Daniel Wisdom

M13933: The Wonders of Math Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Shenal Kotuwewatta

M13959: Crash Course in Game Theory Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Avichal Goel, Mihir Singhal

M13736: Introduction to Cryptology Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Clara Bakker, Matthew Benet

M13880: Probability puzzles: Linearity of Expectation Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Kristian Georgiev, Rene Reyes, Ileana Rugina

M13845: Vectors! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Norman Cao

M13946: Induction: "The last guy said it, so it must be true!" Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Evan Caragay, Shuli Jones

M13914: How to Win Games Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Cory Romanov, Josh Talbot

M13920: Finite Automata Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: James Koppel

M13948: Ramsey Theory Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Della Hendrickson, Helen Read

[Deprecated] Physical Sciences

[ Return to Category List ]

P13824: Sound, Waves, and Electricity Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: John Gregg

P13938: Light and Radiation: The Invisible World Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Samuel Alipour-fard, David Rower

P13817: Molecular Gastronomy and Cooking Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Vinicius Armelin, Duha Syar

P13864: Materials Science and Engineering: What it's all about! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sophia Mittman, Duha Syar

P13858: That's Rad: The (mostly) invisible world of radiation Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Isaac Meyer, Alexander O'Brien

P13862: Problem Solving with Mechanical Engineering and Physics Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Noelle Kramer, Charlotte Wickert

P13965: History of Modern Physics!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Evan Tey, Nicholas Wu

Physics is all about understanding the universe we live in. Over the past 150 years, we've gone from understanding the mechanical world around us to understanding electromagnetism, the spacetime continuum, and particles smaller than atoms. We've started to ask questions about the universe and randomness/uncertainty through wars and the growth of technology and shifts of power. Come learn about how all these things are intertwined as we walk through the last century of physics!


Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
None
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 9:05am--10:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 115 (max 200)


P13896: Chemistry Magic Show! Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Anton Morgunov, Siam Muquit

P13797: Black Holes! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Emma Batson, Anjali Nambrath

P13793: Your classical intuition is wrong! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Rajashree Agrawal, Jason Gross

P13829: Cookie Chemistry Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Max Jahns, Shawnee Traylor

P13883: Fun Facts about the Elements of the Periodic Table Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Dhyey Gandhi, Stuti Khandwala

P13926: Gravity Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Josh Talbot, Raymond Wynne

Pop (and not-so-pop) Culture

[ Return to Category List ]

P13836: From the Depths of Wikipedia
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Mathew Suazo

Wikipedia has nearly 5.5 million articles in the English language. This class will explore some of the most interesting hidden gems, from "Lawsuits against God" to the "World's littlest skyscraper."


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--10:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 98 (max 200)


P13837: Depths of Wikipedia 2: Electric Boogaloo
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Mathew Suazo

Wikipedia has nearly 5.5 million articles in the English language, and as such, just one class isn't enough to cover all the cool stuff it has to offer. This class will explore even more interesting hidden gems, from the "Indiana Pi Bill" to the "Oak Island mystery."


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 77 (max 200)


P13787: Why Shrek is an actual masterpiece Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Hahn Lheem

P13839: Depths of Wikipedia 3: Return of the Wiki
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Mathew Suazo

Wikipedia has nearly 5.5 million articles in the English language, and as such, even two classes aren't enough to cover all the cool stuff it has to offer. This class will explore yet more interesting hidden gems, from the "Corrupted Blood incident" to the "Boston Molasses Disaster."


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 4:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 89 (max 200)


P13785: Violence and Videogames Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Alyssa Spencer, Janice Tjan

P13707: The Music of Star Wars Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Brendan Vaughan, Sarah Weidman

P13873: Video Games History
Difficulty: *
Teachers: David Ulloa

Take a blast to the past as we document the development of video games throughout the past 7 decades (yeah, we going way back) Learn about the games that defined generations, the consoles and technology that made them happen, and the communities who played them. We'll cover every genre and every console (yes, even the late great Gizmondo) as we romp through the greatest hits and misses of the medium. We'll slow down and cover some critical points in the history of video games--like the Great Video Game Crash of 1983 and the creation of the ESRB rating system--and take a few side roads to learn about design and what makes these great games so great.

Oh, and did I mention you get to play some video games? You get to play some video games!


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 10:05am--11:55am
Section 3: Sat 10:05am--11:55am

Grades
8 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 19 (max 27)
Section 2: Full! (max 22)
Section 3: 27 (max 30)


P13840: Depths of Wikipedia 4: Ever After
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Mathew Suazo

Wikipedia has nearly 5.5 million articles in the English language, and as such, even three classes aren't enough to cover all the cool stuff it has to offer. This class will explore- you guessed it- a variety of interesting topics, from the "Ytterby" to the "Great Stork Derby."


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 12:05pm--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 113 (max 200)


P13838: Depths of Wikipedia 5: A Trilogy in Five Parts
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Mathew Suazo

Wikipedia has nearly 5.5 million articles in the English language... yada yada yada, you already read the other descriptions. Come learn even more interesting tidbits, from the "Salton Sea" to the "Stargate Project."


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 23 (max 200)


P13801: Intro to Lightsaber Dueling and Spinning Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Shayna Ahteck, Claire McLellan-Cassivi

P13857: How to Create a Religion Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Jensen Curtiss, Harley Ride

P13930: Kpop Dance!!!! Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Emily Han, Viktoriya Tabunshchyk

[Deprecated] Walk-in Activity

[ Return to Category List ]

W13912: Scale Mail
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Brian Chen

Make cool things with scales and rings!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13971: Science Bowl
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Hahn Lheem

Come play high school Science Bowl and try to win for bragging rights and learn some awesome things about science! Know lots of science trivia, love hitting buzzers, or just want to try to answer questions ridiculously fast? This is the walk-in for you! You do not need to have familiarity/experience with this game to participate!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13980: Mao
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Julian Espada, Wayne Zhao

Come play Mao. What's Mao? Whatever you want it to be!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13809: Smart Bubbles
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Tanya Huffman

What is the shortest road linking 3, 4 or even 5 towns together? Find out how nature has solved this problem.


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--3:55pm
Section 2: Sat 10:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)
Section 2: 0 (max 50)


W13802: Sail the High Seas
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Clio Macrakis

Calling all sailors to join us on our transit around the world! To where? In what boat? You decide! We'll have an ongoing boat-building competition, learn how to tie knots, create our own sailor superstitions, explore sailing vessels from around the world, and talk about how sailboats work.
Stop in for however long you want


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13928: Hot Salt Frying
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Jenny Gao, Byron Xu

Hot salt frying is a traditional Asian street food cooking technique. Come learn how it's done and enjoy some sunflower seeds, chestnuts, and other snacks!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13979: Pi Day!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: CJ Quines, Wayne Zhao

Come learn about pi while eating pi(e).


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 3:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13909: Learn the Chinese Yo-Yo!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Mikayla Murphy

The Chinese Yo-Yo, also known as Diabolo, has been a popular circus prop for many years. Come learn how to play with this fun toy that also is an important part of Chinese heritage!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 9:05am--10:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13978: Jotto!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Hahn Lheem

Come play Mastermind, but with words!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 9:05am--10:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13867: Lateral Thinking Puzzles
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Vincent Bian, Zawad Chowdhury

One day, a person was fired because they didn't flush a toilet enough. What happened?

Mr. Smith lies dead in a puddle of water and broken glass. How did he die?

One year, the price of beef dropped drastically in a particular region. Why?

Find out the answer to these mysteries, and many more, by asking only yes/no questions!


Class Style
Discussion
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--11:55am
Section 2: Sat 12:05pm--1:55pm
Section 3: Sun 10:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)
Section 2: 0 (max 50)
Section 3: 0 (max 50)


W13922: Non-Newtonian Fluids
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Jenny Gao, Mayukha Vadari

will fill out later


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 10:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13949: Plank Countdown
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Jeffery Li

Are you participating in MathCounts and/or interested in solving math problems in your head quickly? Are you proud of your athleticism but feel like you never get a chance to show it off? If you believe that you can solve math problems in your head faster than your peers or that your abs are stronger than theirs, come join us in Plank Countdown, an activity also run at the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament! Rules will be elaborated on before the start. Feel free to drop by anytime to watch or participate; rounds start about every 15 minutes!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 10:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13917: Not Ruby Red Appreciation
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Grace Cai

Come marvel at all juice that is not ruby red.


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 11:05am--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13919: Ruby Red Appreciation
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Andrew Lin, Rachana Madhukara

ESP loves to drink juice. Come learn to appreciate the best juice: Ocean Spray Ruby Red!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 11:05am--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13923: Prototyping Circuits
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Matthew Cox, Byron Xu

Come learn how to build circuits!

We'll show you how to make circuits with blinking lights. You can take home the circuits you make!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 11:05am--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13952: Estimation Markets
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Rajashree Agrawal, Jeffery Li, Wayne Zhao

Learn about financial markets while practicing your Fermi estimation skills in this classic game! Open to anyone with interest in math, science, or finance. Quick thinking and awareness of other players are of utmost importance.


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 12:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)
Section 2: 0 (max 50)


W13767: Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) Ice Cream
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Grace Cai, Matthew Cox, Jenny Gao, Jeffery Yu, Wayne Zhao

Want to watch some cool chemistry and eat some cool liquid? Come join us for a delicious treat!!!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 1:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13826: Origami Charms
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Laura Cui

Come learn to make your own keychains and jewelry charms out of paper! No origami experience required.


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 3: Sun 2:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)
Section 2: 0 (max 50)
Section 3: 0 (max 50)


W13944: Face masks
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Tara Liu

Make your face super soft by putting on a face mask! get smooth glowing skin


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 1:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13830: Learning the Light Up Puzzle
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Mohan Richter-Addo

Light Up is a logic puzzle game with three main rules. 1) Every square must be lit up. 2) No light source can be seen by another light source. 3) The number on a black square indicates how many light sources are adjacent to it. All numbers must be satisfied. Without any one of these rules, the game would be much simpler than it is. However, the way it is now, it forces there to be a single, unique solution. Join us in learning the tactics for solving this kind of puzzle and then tackling these puzzles yourself!


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--12:55pm
Section 2: Sun 2:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)
Section 2: 0 (max 50)


W13908: Make Your Own Butter
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Matthew Cox, Byron Xu

Learn how butter is made and take home your very own piece of fresh, all-natural butter! While supplies last.


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 3:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)


W13977: Card Throwing
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Simon Alford, Matt Schofield

Learn to throw ordinary playing cards! This class will allow you how to impress your friends and family by showing you how to throw a card with deadly accuracy.


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--1:55pm
Section 2: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 3: Sun 10:05am--11:55am
Section 4: Sun 3:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 0 (max 50)
Section 2: 0 (max 50)
Section 3: 0 (max 50)
Section 4: 0 (max 50)


Miscellaneous

[ Return to Category List ]

X13788: This statement is a lie. Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Hahn Lheem, CJ Quines

X13833: Dungeons and Dragons 101: Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Charlie DeLorey

X13868: The Theory of Counterattacking: Strategies in Starcraft Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Karthik Nair, Thomas Xiong

X13810: Planning Like a Pro: Learning to Bullet Journal Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Emily Levenson, Lily Zhang

X13835: Dungeons and Dragons 102: Creating Characters!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Charlie DeLorey

In this class we will be covering more rules of Dungeons and Dragons, as well as a very important part of the game: making your character! You will learn all the different parts of the character sheet (a page where your character's stats, abilities, and personality is recorded), as well as some opportunities to see what it is like to actually play a game of D&D!


Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
Taking Dungeons and Dragons 101, or a familiarity with D&D rules such as those for combat, social interactions, skill proficiencies, AC and DC calculations, etc.
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--11:55am

Grades
8 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 24 (max 25)


X13901: Make Your Own Soap Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Grace Cai, Laura Cui

X13940: Fundamentals of Poker Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Omkar Ghenand, Edward Jin

X13823: Code Busters Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Amira Malik, Pamela Stark

X13805: Stargazing, Telescopes and more! Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Evan Tey, Nicholas Wu

X13818: Dutch Babies?!?!! Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Maria Chiang, Sophia Friedman

X13827: The Future of Transportation Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Enrique Casillas, Thanh Nguyen

X13856: Bullet Journaling 101 Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Elaine Wen

X13916: How to Run a Spark!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Evan Caragay, Julian Espada, Rujul Gandhi, Jenna Himawan

Ever thought about what happens behind-the-scenes when you sign up for Spark classes? Or how all of our teachers and classes fit into MIT's classrooms? Spark takes months to plan, and for good reason. Come learn how we make Spark happen every year!


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 17 (max 40)


X13762: Chocolate Truffles Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Sophie Mori, Sarah Weidman

X13884: Introduction to Linguistics
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Dominick Joo, Albert Liu, Tom Panenko

How do scientists analyze language? How do babies learn languages? Do you want to become more aware of your tongue? Come learn about all the things about language you already technically know but don't even know you know!


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 12 (max 40)


X13897: Use Chopsticks, Roll your R's, Snap! Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Oomi Pammit

X13924: Hair Dyeing: Theory and Practice Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Carolyn Mei, Leslie Yan

X13961: Dungeons and Dragons for the beginner Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Zawad Chowdhury, Kaitlyn Pryzdzial

X13786: Developing Your Resilience and Inner Strength Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Patricia Craig

X13794: Dungeons & Dragons Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sebastian Bilash, Kevin Bilash

X13904: How to win at board games Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Quincy Johnson, Amber Williams

X13947: This course has no content? Full!
Difficulty: ***
Teachers: Mulan Jiang, Colin Tang

X13962: How to teach a Hogwarts class Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Zawad Chowdhury, Rujul Gandhi

X13841: Let's talk about the NFL! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Ravi Raghavan, Ahaan Rungta

X13842: Let's Talk about Baseball! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Ravi Raghavan, Ahaan Rungta

X13937: How to Play Chess Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Richard Barone, Kyle Liu

X13751: Basics of Knitting Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Amena Khatun, Karissa Wenger

X13799: Science Like a Girl Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Lyssa Freese, Emilie Skoog

X13843: Let's Talk About the NBA! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Ravi Raghavan, Ahaan Rungta

X13972: Game Show! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sophie Mori, Evan Tey

X13815: Intro to Puzzle Hunts
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Walker Anderson, Wayne Zhao

Puzzle hunts are a fun way to solve puzzles together with friends! The goal is to solve several puzzles that culminate in a final challenge, called a 'metapuzzle'. After a presentation teaching common solving strategies, you'll have the opportunity to work on a small puzzle hunt with others. You don't need any specialized puzzle-solving knowledge to participate.


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 9:05am--10:55am
Section 2: Sun 11:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: Full! (max 50)
Section 2: 25 (max 50)


X13795: THE GAUNTLET- Speed Teaching
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Winston Fee, Tyler Higgs, Max Reese

Welcome to the ULTIMATE miscellaneous class. Teachers will compete to out-teach the others in dozens of micro-classes, with students scoring their performance. You'll learn something, you'll see MIT students flounder for your points, you'll become way cooler than you currently are (you're pretty cool though), you'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll cheer! Watch out for bonus rounds. Enter: the Gauntlet


Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
Must be willing and able to count up to 3
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 124 (max 200)
Section 2: 48 (max 134)


X13950: Things You Should Know About Life Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Evan Caragay, Mayukha Vadari

X13804: Tactical Combinations that Swap a 0-1
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Daniel Acosta

Tactics! Chess 99% is tactics and 1% perspiration. We'll be solving some really difficult tactics puzzles. At some point when solving tactics puzzles, you wonder "Hmmm, will I ever see those puzzles in my games? When should I look for tactics too?" WELL, this class will answer those questions.


Class Style
Discussion

Prerequisites
Intermediate or advanced beginner at chess. Patience and Bobby Fischer hands for moments of deep introspection. Make sure they're secure.
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 17 (max 22)
Section 2: Full! (max 22)


X13890: Want to Play in a Game Show? Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Nicholas Jean, Lauren MacLachlan

X13895: Macaron Madness Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Karen Gao, Maggie Zheng

X13960: Icebreaking 101 Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Vincent Bian, Zawad Chowdhury

X13816: slackline vibes Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Peter Crocker, Raymond Wynne

X13831: 7.4 Seconds for Every Pokémon
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Jeffery Li, CJ Quines

Come learn a few things about every Pokémon up to Generation 8! You may learn about some that you never knew before, or about some funny descriptions of the more well-known ones.


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 2:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 77 (max 200)


X13925: Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Sonia Moreno

X13929: The Art of Riddling Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Shardul Chiplunkar, Rujul Gandhi

X13821: Intro to Stained Glass Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Alex Bookbinder, Leah Pettit, Sonia Reilly, Aquila Simmons

X13905: Mastering Your Memory: How to remember anything you want Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Martin Schneider

X13957: Interesting Conversations?!?! Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Nika Silkin, Meghana Vemulapalli

X13863: Sustainable Cooking Workshop Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Liliana Edmonds, Diani Jones, Melissa Stok

Social Studies

[ Return to Category List ]

Z13812: American History
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Shreyas Balaji, Sai Sameer Pusapaty, Rahul Yesantharao

A riveting account of the nation, starting from its inception in 1836.


Class Style
Lecture
Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--10:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 47 (max 50)


Z13846: Global Health Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Bhuvna Murthy, Reed Robinson, Melody Wu

Z13903: How to solve the climate crisis Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Sam Allon, Jesse Gordon

Z13968: Learning about North Korea through films (including KDrama!!) Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Michelle Lee, Janice Tjan

Z13757: How to do adult-related money things Full!
Difficulty: *
Teachers: Roan LaPlante

Z13819: Explore Model United Nations Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Claire Hsu, Karunya Sethuraman

Z13932: Language Interactions Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Shardul Chiplunkar, Rujul Gandhi, Jenna Himawan

Z13875: Non-linear Thinking in a Linear World Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Sherene Raisbeck, Josh Shaine

Z13719: President Madison on the Founding of the United States
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Bil Lewis

With the assistance of audience members participating in skits, reading the parts of Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Dolly Madison, etc., we will lead investigations into events from the House of Burgesses, the Constitutional Convention, the “Dinner Party,” etc., that marked the coming of age of the United States.

In recognition of the extensive amount writing that made this country possible, each student shall receive their very own, personal, finely carved quill pen with which they shall practice proper writing skills. (Primary flight feathers from the Left wing of the goose available for the Bar-Dexter, Right wing quills for the Bar-Sinister.)

More than a mere recitation of dates and facts, this will be an exploration into the underlying reasons that prompted them to act as they did. Many of the issues they confronted then continue to be relevant today.

Should we be one Country?
What debts should be paid?
Who gets the power of Taxation?
Should a Private Bank issue money?
Should we be agrarian? Or a center of manufacturing?
How do we limit the influence of Great Corporations on our public life?
How can we protect the Common Man from the rapaciousness of the Rich and Powerful?
How do we eliminate Slavery?
How do we make real the “Spirit of ’76?” So we can truly say that “All Men are Created Equal.”


Class Style
Activity
Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 9:05am--10:55am
Section 2: Sun 11:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: Full! (max 32)
Section 2: 18 (max 32)


Z13776: Good and Evil in Superhero Comics Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Clio Macrakis, Mikayla Murphy

Z13847: How to make a language Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Theodor Cucu, Rujul Gandhi, Shinjini Ghosh

Z13869: Economic Games(?!) Full!
Difficulty: **
Teachers: Rajashree Agrawal, Jason Gross