MIT ESP - Spark 2023

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A15526: Make and Play a Didgeridoo

Difficulty: *

Teachers: James Koppel, Taimor Williams

awuwuwuwuuuuweeorweeorwadelewadelewu! The didgeridoo is an Australian instrument that adds a tribal flair to any situation. In this class, we'll build our own didgeridoos out of PVC pipe, and then learn to play them. With the didgeridoo, you can create a variety of rhythms, produce animal noises, and make yourself sound like there's two people playing! For people with little to no experience.

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 2 (max 10)

A15498: History of the Western Orchestra

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Song Kim, Daina Neithardt

500 years ago, the iconic symphony orchestra that dominated (and continues to dominate) western classical music simply did not exist. So where did it come from? And how did we get to where we are today?

This class will explore the structure of orchestras from the Renaissance through today, looking at how innovations in technology and music came together to give us the huge diversity in instruments and styles that we have today.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 4 (max 30)

A15499: Composing Music!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Sanjay Raman

Ever wanted to learn how to make your own music? Ever listened to a song and wanted to learn why it just sounds so good? You've come to the right place!

In this class, we'll be going through the basic ideas of music theory, and we'll be working on our very own music compositions. At the end, we'll have a mini-recital for everyone to share what they created!

Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
No experience required, although some experience with an instrument would be nice.

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--11:55am
Section 2: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: Full! (max 20)
Section 2: 19 (max 20)

A15550: Throat Singing Workshop

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Jason Li

Dive into the centuries-old art of Turkic-Mongolian throat singing! We’ll learn about throat singing cultures and the acoustic and anatomical secrets behind these deep growls and high whistles that sound like magic. Of course, this includes live demos and interactive tutorials, and you'll get to try out some techniques for yourself! No prior experience in anything is required.

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sat 3:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 18 (max 30)
Section 2: 20 (max 30)

A15525: Japanese Stab Binding

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Caroline Chea, Cindy Zhang

Ya like books? We sure do! We’ll be teaching Japanese stab binding, which binds thin notebooks with just thread.

Activities include: cutting, stabbing (paper), sewing, and gushing about books and book structures ;)

Supplies will be provided!

Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
No knowledge needed, just an interest in notebooks, books, and/or hands-on activities

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 9 (max 10)

A15546: Wire trees!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Beverly Ma, Tom Nguyen, Elizabeth Romero

Love trees? Don't love trees? Doesn't matter! Learn how to craft a miniature wire tree and take home a beautiful piece of synthetic nature! :))

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sat 3:05pm--3:55pm
Section 3: Sat 4:05pm--4:55pm
Section 4: Sun 10:05am--10:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 13 (max 15)
Section 2: Full! (max 15)
Section 3: Full! (max 15)
Section 4: Full! (max 15)

A15616: Beginners Guide to Ukelele Playing

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Zawad Chowdhury, Hanna Yang

Do you want to get into music? Have a ukelele you've always been meaning to learn how to play? In this class we'll start at the basics, and learn enough about ukeleles to continue practicing on your own.

Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
Having touched a ukelele before would be great, but not required. Instruments will be provided for the class!

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 11:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 17 (max 18)

B15531: Breaking Language Barriers

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Faith Baca, Caroline Bao, Jada Li

Learn about the different languages and cultures of the world through games and candy!

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 19 (max 20)

B15516: How to Construct a Language

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Joseph Hobbs

Ever wondered how great linguists constructed Elvish, Dothraki, or Klingon? Ever wanted to construct your own language? Ever wanted to learn more about the basic principles and elements of natural languages?

Explore the fundamentals of linguistics while constructing a basic language from scratch in How to Construct a Language! Instruction will alternate between lecture and guided activity in order to allow students to construct their own basic natural languages.

* Students are asked to bring a notebook and pen/pencil to class. Students will be completing guided activities to practice principles of linguistics. *

Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
An elementary understanding of English grammar (including parts of speech and basic sentence order) A willingness to actively engage & have fun

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm

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

B15503: Norse Mythology Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Diana Bishop, Daina Neithardt

B15532: Chinese Pinyin: A Brief History and Guide

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Vivian Hir, Lumia Neyo

Want to learn more about how the Chinese romanization system works? Curious about how to pronounce Chinese surnames like Xu, Cai, or Qiu? Come to this class to gain a better understanding of how China developed the Hanyu Pinyin system and learn how to read romanized Chinese words. I will go over the basic tones as well as tricky initials and finals sounds.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 1:05pm--1:55pm

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

C15538: Tier List-ing Your Way Through Computer Science

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Shreya Chaudhary, Isabella Duan

Are tier lists still a thing?
Help us chaotically try to create tier lists of random computer science stuff, including programming languages, Linux distributions, and other weird related topics. Learn the basics of programming languages, distributions, algorithms, and 100% wonderful-and-completely-useful cs topics. Be prepared to battle it out to create the best computer science tier lists!

Class Style
Seminar

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: Full! (max 15)
Section 2: 13 (max 15)
Section 3: 3 (max 15)

C15595: Can a computer solve it? P vs NP

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Chris Akers

What problems are computers really good at solving, and what takes them a long time? Researchers still do not have a good answer!

We will learn about this famous and surprisingly hard question: P vs NP!

Class Style
Seminar

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 22 (max 30)

C15517: Intro to JavaScript & Web Development Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Angelica Chin, Hilary Zen

C15523: Web Development Crash Course: Code It

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Jian Ming Chen, Ashar Farooq, Harry Heiberger, Henry Heiberger

Why are there so many websites out there? Well, we can't do much about that, but what we can do is to teach you a little itsy bit of all things web development. Things like HTTP, HTML, Code, Design, etc. and you will build(aka code) a simple PAGE! How cool is that now, c'mon!

Class Style
Lecture

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 34 (max 134)

C15543: Robots Thinking and Acting in the Wild

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Siddharth Ancha, Kwesi Rutledge, Martina Stadler, Yasmin Veys

Have you ever wondered what robots think about? What manifests in their mechanical minds? In this course, we will introduce some of the common components of robotic thinking: sensing, perception, localization, mapping, planning, and control. Together, these components allow robots to figure out where they are, what is around them, and what they should do next. We’ll also bring along our 1/10th scale autonomous car to demonstrate a robotic system in action!

Class Style
Lecture

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 19 (max 48)
Section 2: 33 (max 50)

C15509: A brief history of computer science

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Quang Nguyen, Tian Herng Tan

Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. In this course, we will learn about how computer science came into its own as a discipline, from mathematical and physical ideas that were formulated long before its creation to the creation of the first computer.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 1:05pm--1:55pm
Section 2: Sun 2:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 25 (max 30)
Section 2: Full! (max 30)

E15514: Build Your Own Solar Powered Car Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Cathy Hu, Remington Sandell, Lauren Shrack

E15605: Intro to Robotics!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Emily Sologuren

This class goes over the types of robots that exist in the real world, including ones built here at MIT! We also go over a high-level overview on how one controls a robot and what the mechanical, electrical and software requirements are. Includes a fun demo of a robotic arm from yours truly!

Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
None!

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--10:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 148 (max 150)

E15592: Origami Robots Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Aashi Chandalia, Kianjai Huggan

E15552: Underwater battle bots!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Jared Byars, Audrey Chen, Ansel Garcia-Langley, Toya Takahashi

Build an underwater battle bot to pop as many balloons as possible! You'll be building a remotely-operated underwater vehicle and adding modules using a laser cutter!

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 19 (max 30)

E15470: How to Run an Airline

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Ryan de Freitas Bart

Right now, there are about 10,000 aircraft flying around the world, each traveling hundreds of miles per hour, carrying people in a manner safer than driving a car. This amazing feat is the work of a global airline industry which is a marvel of our time. But how is this done? Also, why are flights always delayed and how can you get the best price when taking a flight? In this class we will answer these questions by delving into how airlines operate from a technological and business perspective. We will start by looking at an overview of the US domestic airline industry and the business models of different airlines. Next, we will cover ticket sales/distribution, the timeline of a typical flight, and airport operations. Finally, we will explore the process for becoming a pilot and how to identify common plane types.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 28 (max 50)

E15574: Crystals and Crystallography Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Lisa Maiocco

E15513: CAD 101

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Vishakh Talanki

Want to be a Mechanical Engineer? Like Legos? Wanna build things?

If you've ever wanted to learn how to design things in Solidworks (a Computer Aided Design software), come join me for this class - you'll learn how to use Solidworks and design the mechanical systems of your dreams!

Class Style
Discussion

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: Full! (max 15)
Section 2: 14 (max 15)

E15589: How to Build a Solar Car in Two Years

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Maria Aguiar, Stephen Campbell, Sunmee Choi, Andre Greene, Louisa Wood

We are MIT Solar Car! Every two years, we design, build, and race a solar powered car that goes on the road! We'll show you the art of solar racing and the process of building a solar car with some fancy glue, paper, and metal.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 2:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 70 (max 100)

E15594: Create your own board game

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Aleksandr Abelyan, Ian Gonzalez Hermosillo, Tom Nguyen

Get ready to unleash your creativity and strategic thinking in this exciting class! In this class you'll learn how to bring your wildest game ideas to life, from inventing new game mechanics to crafting eye-catching game maps and game worlds. You'll work with a team of fellow students to test and refine your games, and by the end of the class, you'll have a fully functional board game that you can play and share with your friends and family. Don't miss this chance to become the next master game designer!

Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
No Prerequisites

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 11:05am--12:55pm
Section 2: Sun 2:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 14 (max 15)
Section 2: Full! (max 15)

E15508: "Lunar Lander" Design Challenge Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Michael Case, Richard Dulce

E15530: Atomistic Science: from tiny to large scales Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Michael Bichnevicius, Shomik Verma

E15539: Learn about Rockets with MIT Rocket Team!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Claire Johnson, Beverly Ma, Elizabeth Romero

Members of MIT Rocket Team will teach you the basics of rocketry, then students will compete in a build-your-own rocket competition!

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 3:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 29 (max 30)
Section 2: Full! (max 30)

E15487: how to build a space mission

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Maddie Garcia, Dansil Green, Alex Meredith

how to build a mission to space! learn about the various systems that go into designing and building spacecraft that explore deep into our solar system

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 12:05pm--12:55pm
Section 2: Sun 4:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 45 (max 100)
Section 2: 99 (max 100)

H15548: Six: The Rise and Fall of the Tudors Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Pavitra Chari

H15580: History of France, Told Through Music

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Angelica Chin, Vivian Hir

Explore the last two centuries of France and classical music with us, told through pieces like Clair de Lune, Bolero, and Carnival of the Animals! Come learn about French music and discuss your favorite pieces and composers!
No prior music study needed.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 10 (max 30)

H15566: A Historically Accurate Julius Caesar

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Leviticus Norman

Have you ever wondered why Julius Caesar was killed? What became of the men who plotted the death of the most powerful man in Rome? What led up to such an iconic historical event, and why do we still talk about it to this day? One of the most widely read renditions of the murder is Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Compared to our modern understanding of Roman history, how much did Shakespeare get right, and where did he cross from fact to fiction for the sake of a good story?

Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
Encouraged: Reading Julius Caesar or at least a summary

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 13 (max 100)

H15579: Composing music with computer science! Full!

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Angelica Chin, Crista Falk

H15561: James Madison on the Founding of the United States

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Bil Lewis

With the assistance of audience members reading appropriate dramatic quotations from Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Dolly Madison, etc., he 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.

More than a mere recitation of dates and facts, this will be an exploration 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?

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 10:05am--11:55am

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

H15560: Calligraphy Masterpieces of China: History, Art Appreciation, and Culture Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Vivian Hir, Zixuan Liu

Materials for this class include: Slides

H15474: American Society: A Primer

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Kenneth Cox

Many have asked "Who is America?", but perhaps the better question is "What is the socioeconomic, cultural, demographic, and lifestyle portrait of America?" In this class, we'll meet the 90% of Americans who don't eat enough fruits and vegetables, the 10% of American Twitter users who generate 97% of our country's political tweets, and the 12% of American daters who have found love through online dating - and many more. We'll also begin to understand the sources of economic, political, and cultural diversity in America, and how all this information is gathered and analyzed.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 2:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 3:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 32 (max 50)
Section 2: 45 (max 50)

L15452: 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 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 196 (max 1000000)
Section 2: 199 (max 1000000)

L15451: 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 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 194 (max 1000000)
Section 2: 212 (max 1000000)

M15600: Fun with math: puzzles, games and a bit of history Full!

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Elba Alonso-Monsalve

M15529: Mathematical Matchmaking Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Sophie Vulpe

M15618: The Mathematics of Voting

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Zawad Chowdhury, Shuli Jones

What's the best way to pick a place to go for dinner? How about picking the leader of the free world? Come learn about voting systems and the math behind them.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 4 (max 75)

M15527: Finite Automata

Difficulty: **

Teachers: James Koppel, Ziv Scully

Would you like to find patterns in text? Prove your program doesn't have an infinite loop? Monitor a nuclear reactor? Find structure in DNA?

In this class, you'll learn about finite automata. Finite automata, or "state machines" can be thought of as just moving a marker between some states according to some simple rules, but their simplicity hides deep mathematics and allows you to manipulate them in interesting ways. We'll start with the basic definition and take you through the math and into some powerful applications.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--11:55am
Section 2: Sat 2:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 14 (max 30)
Section 2: Full! (max 30)

M15606: Magic of Higher Powers

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Saranesh Prembabu

Come learn about the hidden surprises in the seemingly simple operation of taking a number

$a$ and raising it to the

$n$ th power

$a^n= a \cdot a \cdot \ldots a$ , i.e. multipling

$a$ by itself

$n$ times.

Did you know

$n$ does not have to be an ordinary counting number like

$1,2,3, \ldots$ ? What if

$n$ is negative? Or a fraction? Or imaginary!? What is

$\sqrt{-1}$ raised to the power of the square root of

$\sqrt{-1}$ ?

You may have heard of 2 dimensional shapes and 3 dimensional shapes. But have you heard of 1.58-dimensional shapes?

Why do the first six decimal digits of

$22/7 = 3.142857142857142857\ldots$ repeat over and over again? Why are the first ten decimal digits of

$(2+\sqrt(3))^{20}$ all just

$.9999999999$ ?

What is Euler's constant

$e \approx 2.718$ and why is it so special, showing up everywhere from your personal finances to pandemics to geometry? How can you calculate it on a four-function calculator using just the + - x ÷ operations?

Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
We will mostly use topics from the standard 8th grade curriculum but apply them in complicated creative ways. For later parts, familiarity with imaginary numbers (e.g. square root of negative one) and logarithms (inverse of exponentiation) is helpful but not required.

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 27 (max 30)

M15582: Demockracy

Difficulty: **

Teachers: James Koppel, Ziv Scully

Having a fair election with two candidates is pretty simple: everyone votes for their favorite candidate and whoever gets the most votes wins. However, as anyone who was around for the US presidential elections in 2000 (or 1992, or 1912, or 1860) will tell you, things get complicated with three or more candidates. It's sometimes the case that you should vote for a candidate you think is likely to win instead of a fringe candidate you agree with more. We can think of different voting systems that try to get around this and other problems, but every voting system seems to be flawed in one way or another.

You might ask: is there a "perfect" voting system out there? The answer: no! Come to this class to find out why.

Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
If you know how to prove there are infinitely many primes, you're definitely ready. But even if you don't, just come ready to think hard about voting :).

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 9 (max 100)

M15590: Game Theory and Chomping Monsters

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Stirling Newberry

Math is everywhere... Including the land of fantasy. You may have heard about Dungeons and Dragons or the maker of the actual game, which is Hasbro through its subsidiary Wizards of the Coast. You may have even heard how the parent company made changes to the open licensing agreement which went down like a lead balloon. All of this is game theory - a finite number of players who make choices not knowing what the other participants are going to decide. Game theory is in economics and sociology, it is in psychology, and in role-playing. This is a short lecture about the kinds of game theory in Role-playing game and the economics of making a living from selling ‘fun’ to other people. Unfortunately, it gets messy especially where an entity tries to monetize long term profitability for short term. Because while some players want fantasy, other players want money. Buckle your seats it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Class Style
Seminar

Prerequisites
None.

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 9:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 14 (max 15)

M15573: Pretty Patterns in Pascal's Triangle Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Jonathan Whyte

M15586: Basics of Number Theory

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Benjamin Chen, Vetri Vel

Do you like whole numbers? Do you think they are simple? This class may change your mind. We will introduce topics such as prime numbers and divisibility rules, and work up to harder concepts at the end. Fun problems will be used to motivate topics.

You do not need to know any number theory beforehand.

Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
You should be able to work with variables and equations.

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 19 (max 20)
Section 2: 9 (max 20)
Section 3: 19 (max 20)
Section 4: Full! (max 20)

P15524: Intro to Beyonce

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Fara Alade, Alexis Yi

Everyone knows Beyonce. But did you know that you don't know her well enough? Since starting out in the girl group Destiny's Child in the 90's, she's gone on to have a gravity-defying multi-decade solo career spanning 7 number-one platinum studio albums, 2 Super Bowl performances, and an incomparable Coachella headliner set, known as "Beychella". She single-handedly changed the music industry's weekly release day when she released her 5th album, the self-title "Beyonce" on Friday instead of Tuesday, and in 2023, she became the record holder for the most Grammy awards ever won. Come to this class to find out why even now, after all of this, she's still underrated.

Disclaimer: This class may contain uncensored music videos and lyrics.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 14 (max 200)

S15551: Plants Gone ExTrEmE

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Fatima Nasir Abbasi, Katie Kitzinger

Did you know plants could eat mice?! For this and many other cool facts about plants, come to our class and take away your very own potted plant! We will talk about how plants survive extreme temperature, moisture and salt conditions, how trees can have different types of flowers, the precarious perch our bunches of bananas are on and much more. We will also have seeds, pots and soil for you to pot a plant!

Class Style
Discussion

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--10:55am
Section 2: Sat 11:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: Full! (max 15)
Section 2: 12 (max 15)

S15598: Take Flight!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Leo Yao

Want to know what happens from wheels up to wheels down? In this class, I'll be discussing the basic physics of airplanes, while also running a simulated flight between New York and Boston (with lots of time for questions while we're on autopilot). As we go, we'll also learn about various other tidbits of piloting along the way (airbrakes? spoilers? speed limits?). If time permits, we'll make the flight again in a fighter jet!

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 71 (max 75)

S15515: Let's Talk about the Weather!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Avery Nguyen, Sarah Weidman

Have you ever wondered how hurricanes or tornadoes form? Or why thunder snow exists? What is a Nor'easter, and why do they occur?

Together, we'll explore the basic physics that create the weather we observe every day, as well as look into some ways to forecast weather yourself!

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 6 (max 50)

S15568: Incarcerated Rights to Healthcare

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Srihitha Dasari, Emmi Mills

The US has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Incarcerated individuals are disproportionately affected by chronic health conditions, mental illness, and substance abuse- yet they tend to receive inadequate health care before, during, and after their prison sentence. This course will discuss how these disadvantages exacerbate health disparities within the incarcerated population, and whether there is a way to find justice in the prison system.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--12:55pm

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

S15541: Poison!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Ruth Lu, Paola M Amadeo

Poisons are all around us. Sometimes natural, like death angel mushrooms, and sometimes put there by humans, like lead pipes and paint. Come learn about why and how everything is out to kill us, humanity's strange history with poison, and a little bit (but not too much) chemistry!

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 30 (max 50)

S15613: Light: The coolest thing in the world

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Karen Lei

Have you ever wondered why you can't see in the dark? Heard about radio waves and x-rays? Come learn about the physics of electromagnetic waves and why light is (arguably) the most interesting thing in the world. We will also give a conceptual idea of advanced topics like Maxwell's equations and why EM waves are so useful in our daily lives (from your kitchen microwaves to your unreliable WiFi).

Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
none

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--1:55pm

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

S15542: Linguistics: The Science of Language

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Aspen Abner, Maya Honda, Christopher Legerme, Cora Lesure, Lorenzo Pinton, Yuexuan Zu

Did you know that language, like all natural phenomena, can be observed and investigated in a scientific way? What is unique about language is that everyone has their own personal and infinite data set living inside their brain. Learn to examine that data the way a linguist would, and puzzle over things that you may not realize you know about the language that you use every day. Learn how linguistics, the science of language, relates to your world and what you're interested in.

Class Style
Discussion

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--1:55pm
Section 2: Sat 2:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 4 (max 20)
Section 2: 18 (max 20)

S15567: Climate Change and the Future of Human Health Full!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Srihitha Dasari, Emmi Mills

S15534: How to Save the World! (A Crash Course on Sustainability) Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Anushree Chaudhuri, Helen Hu, John Mose, Ethan Nguyen

S15607: Microbiology: Microbe Biology Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Jessica Pan

S15581: CRISPR: the molecular scissors

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Chirag Falor, Mudita Goyal

In this class, we will start from the basics of genome editing and go over the discovery and mechanism of CRISPR, a tool that led to revolution in biology and a Nobel prize in chemistry :)

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 9:05am--9:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 96 (max 100)

S15565: Learn about everything from sustainable design to edible chemistry with MIT Spokes!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Andrew Doan, Audrey Gatta, Katherine Guo, Duha Syar

This summer, MIT Spokes, consisting of 8 MIT students, will be biking across the country, from DC to SF, and teaching STEM workshops along the way! Over the course of 80 days, our team will bike over 3,800 miles and host Learning Festivals in small towns. Come learn more about our journey, and check out our workshops to learn about polymers, edible chemistry, energy, rapid prototyping, and more!

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 29 (max 48)

S15510: What's in a Nuclear Reactor?

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Li Xuan Tan

Come learn what goes on inside a nuclear reactor! We'll talk about the physics behind how it produces energy, how we control this energy and keep it safe, and how to do useful things with it!

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 9:05am--9:55am
Section 2: Sun 10:05am--10:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 33 (max 35)
Section 2: Full! (max 35)

Materials for this class include: Class slides

S15612: Make Your Own Metamaterial Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Ziwei (Grace) Jiang, Grace Tian

S15555: Let's Talk about Weather!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Youran Gao, Adrienne Lai

Have you ever wondered why hurricanes form? Or the science behind why the weather changes day to day?

In this class, we will explore some of the basic physics behind weather, and learn how to read weather maps to make your own forecast!

Class Style
Seminar

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 10:05am--10:55am
Section 2: Sun 11:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 11 (max 20)
Section 2: Full! (max 20)

S15549: Fun with polymers! Full!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Yanpu He, Celestine Hong

S15478: Minerals Lab: Earth's Materials Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: H. Alex Chen

S15601: Herbal Medicine: Not Just Essential Oils!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Alfonso Restrepo

If you've ever wondered about plants being used in medicine, this cool class might be of interest to you! The class will take a close look at Mexican traditional medicine in particular, so if you've ever had to take a "remedio" or know what Vix VapoRub is, then you'll do great! If not, you'll still do just fine! You'll get to smell a few herbs or so, and we'll explore what makes medicinal plants so special.

Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
Common Sense: Please do not ingest non-food plant matter unless you are recommended to do so by an expert (like a doctor)

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 22 (max 30)
Section 2: Full! (max 30)
Section 3: 13 (max 30)

S15518: Underwater Earthquake Science: An Intro to Performing Research on Ships as a Marine Geophysicist Full!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Bailey Fluegel

S15522: Discovering Biology Using Lasers and More

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Matias Vergara

Ever wondered how we know the shape of DNA? Come shoot LASERS with me to replicate this famous 1952 experiment. How about the result of the replication of two 3 BILLION base long DNA strands? Find out how two famous biologists exploited 1 neutron and spinning to answer this very question. Interested in programming? Explore protein models generated in the last few years that will propel the future of biological research in years to come! You yourself are biology; come explore how we've come to understand so much and yet have so much left to uncover in
the field.

Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
No prerequisites, just a curiosity of how biologists have explored their own curiosities.

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 10:05am--10:55am
Section 2: Sun 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 18 (max 20)
Section 2: 12 (max 20)

S15558: Gravitation and Electrostatics: The Forces of our Universe

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Sanjay Seshan, Bill Wang

Ever wondered how the planets move? Ever wonder how some of the major forces in the world function? We will be learning about some important physics concepts using mathematical analysis in this class. We will cover the basic laws of gravitation and electrostatics.

Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
Algebra I recommended, Prealgebra required

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 29 (max 30)

Materials for this class include: Slides

W15571: Eating Alternative Oatmeal!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Joshua Curtis Kuffour, Brandon Pho

Alternative Oatmeal is a cool way of eating cereal! We'll go over how to make it and also make/eat some ourselves!

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

W15545: Bracelet Making!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Lily Smith

Let's make bracelets! From matching with your friends to representing your favorite sports team, we can make bracelets of any size, color, and pattern. In this class I will show you the different types of knots, threads, and patterns to help you create the bracelet that is best for you.

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

W15564: Nertz: Competitive Speed Solitaire!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Serena An, Eunice Zhang

Learn how to play Nertz, a card game that combines elements of Solitaire and Speed!

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

W15572: Origami: The Art of Paper Folding

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Joshua Curtis Kuffour, Brandon Pho

Come learn to fold paper crafts of all types!

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8

W15533: Tea Tasting: Learn about MITea

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Vivian Hir

Do you like drinking tea? Want to sample all types of tea from peppermint to pomegranate? Then come to this walk-in activity! You can also come if you want to hear the tea about MITea (pun intended).

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

W15614: Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Eugeniya Artemova, Matthew Cox, Song Kim, Diana Shklover, Li Xuan Tan

Do you like ice cream? Want to see it made at sub-zero temperatures right in front of you? Come to LN2 to watch (and eat) the fascinating process of instantaneous freezing caused by nitrogen that has been cooled into a liquid.

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

W15617: Board games!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Zawad Chowdhury

Come play some board games, like SET or Love Letter!

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

W15615: Not Ruby Red Appreciation

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Diana Bishop, Daina Neithardt

ESP loves to drink juice. Come learn to appreciate the best juice: not Ocean Spray Ruby Red!

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 10:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8

W15623: Ruby Red Appreciation

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Joshua Curtis Kuffour, Brandon Pho

Have you ever heard of Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice? It is very yummy and during this time we will be growing in awe of this revered concoction

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 10:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8

W15519: Journal Systems and Task Management Strategies

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Madison Landry, Lumia Neyo

Join us to create a personalized task management system to help you stay organized and on track! Learn about various task management techniques, software, and tactics. Using plain notebooks, washi tape, stickers, and pens, you will have the chance to design a unique journaling system fit for you. (:

We have limited blank journals, so if you have your own, please bring it!

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 11:05am--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8

W15535: Create Your Own Shrink Art!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Anne Gvozdjak, Kate Lu

Come make shrink art with us! Shrink art, also known as shrink plastic, begins as a colored drawing on a thin sheet of polystyrene plastic; the plastic is then baked, causing it to shrink and thicken, resulting in a hard plastic object approximately half its original size. Come have fun making custom keychains, ornaments or jewelry!

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 10:05am--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8

W15611: Cross Stitching!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Angelica Chin, Hilary Zen

Come learn how to cross stitch with a needle and yarn! All skill levels welcome.

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

W15593: Learn to Make a Flower Crown!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Michelle Escobar

Want to make and wear a super cute flower crown? Want to wear a little symbol of spring to take your mind off how cold it is outside? Simply want to take a brain break from all the cool classes Splash has to offer? Come and have fun braiding your very own flower crown into existence! Braiding experience not required, and we'll have a variety of flowers to choose from

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 10:05am--12:55pm
Section 2: Sun 12:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8

W15604: Exploring Information Theory in 2-player Zero-Sum Games: A case study on Clash Royale

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Orion Foo, Theo Jiang

come beat us in clash royale.

prizes for winners

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 1:05pm--2:55pm

Grades
7 - 8

W15620: Reading/Writing Ambigrams

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Alex Jiang

Ambigrams are words/text that are stylized to read the same/another word upside-down. Come to learn how ambigrams are created and try your hand at your own.

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

W15619: Finger Loop Braiding!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Cindy Zhang

Learn how to make finger loop braids with 3 or 5 strands!

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

W15621: Firefly puzzles!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Walker Anderson, Lumia Neyo, CJ Quines

Considering that the program theme this year is fireflies, it would be pretty thematic to do some firefly logic puzzles!

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 2:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8

W15622: Learn Albanian Traditional Dance!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Heidi Durresi

Come learn Albanian traditional dance with us!

Class Style
Activity

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

Grades
7 - 8

X15559: Let's talk NFL & Fantasy Football!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Francisco Proskauer Valerio, Ahaan Rungta

What does the Super Bowl mean for Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts? How do you win your fantasy football league next year? This and everything NFL-related: let's talk about anything y'all want to discuss! 🏈

(We will not be entertaining strong political views, it'll just be football talk!)

Class Style
Discussion

Prerequisites
A decent knowledge of the NFL.

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 11:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 18 (max 20)

X15575: Taekwondo

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Cher Jiang, Brian Le, Jeffery Li, Christine Tu, Ian Williams

Students will learn the kicking and punching techniques used in Sport Taekwondo competition, as well as traditional forms and stances. Class is dynamic and upbeat, and the students will get a good workout.
Class is intended to be introductory, so students that have done a significant amount of Taekwondo before will probably not find the class to be very interesting.

Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
The class will involve physical exercise, so if you are unable/unwilling to do so, I would advise taking a different class.

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--12:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 18 (max 50)

X15569: Intro to Unicycle Riding

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Katrina Jander, Michelle Touma

Come learn a fun new to get around (and a new way to impress your friends)! All levels welcome

Class Style
Activity

Prerequisites
Comfortable clothing and close-toed shoes.

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--1:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 1 (max 5)

X15537: Knottical Nonsense

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Katrina Jander, Anhad Sawhney

Whether you're a thrill-seeker, an adventurer, or just someone who loves to learn new things, 'Knottical Nonsense' is the perfect class for you! You'll discover the knots used by sailors to secure their ships, climbers to reach new heights, and riggers to lift heavy loads. This hands-on class is full of fun activities and challenges that will have you knotting like a pro in no time.

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 3:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 18 (max 20)

X15603: GeoGuessr - Let's Explore the World

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Mason Fang, Rishab Parthasarathy

In which countries do people drive on the left side of the road? Which countries have crosses on the back of their road signs? Which countries have yellow license plates? Come play some GeoGuessr with us and learn some tricks and techniques that can help you guess where you are in the world!

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 12:05pm--12:55pm
Section 2: Sat 3:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 8 (max 50)
Section 2: 28 (max 50)

X15583: Bears!!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Heidi Durresi, Sanjay Raman

Do you like bears? Come to this class to learn cool facts about bears!

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sat 4:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 19 (max 20)

X15596: Let's Talk About the NBA Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Francisco Proskauer Valerio, Ahaan Rungta

X15577: Living a Better Life with these Tips for Managing the Rough Spots

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Patricia Craig

Every person has times in their life when it is really tough. Whether a grandparent just died, or parents are getting divorced, or not fitting in at school - - - life can get really tough. This course will provide some helpful hints on managing those rough patches so that you can be happier and be more open to fun.

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 3:05pm--3:55pm
Section 2: Sat 4:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 29 (max 30)
Section 2: 29 (max 30)

Materials for this class include: Tips from the author Dale Carnegie, Tips from the book The Adversity Quotient, Quick Tips

X15562: REMODEL Middle School Health Class

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Zara Poon

I hate middle school health class.

It's important don't get me wrong, but because it is so important I believe it is necessary we get the information right. A particularly controversial topic I want to focus on is nutrition and exercise education in school. In my experience, lessons can be inaccurate and even promote disordered habits. It doesn't have to be this way! In this class, I want to explain how health is NOT a one-size-fits-all policy. It is NOT a rule book, nor a standard that determines your self-worth. We will discuss your thoughts on outdated health assignments like calorie tracking and whether your experience in health class so far is a positive or negative one. Most importantly, we'll brainstorm some ideas to improve middle school health class to make it a safer, more inclusive space for everyone!

Class Style
Discussion

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

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 24 (max 50)

X15540: Brief History and Science of Chocolate Full!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Madison Landry, Lumia Neyo

X15554: 2.97 Seconds Per Pokemon !?

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Jeffery Li, Alan Zhu

Join us as we attempt to name all 1008 Pokemon in 50 minutes! The website we will be using is pkmnquiz.com.

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 11:05am--11:55am

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 39 (max 50)

X15587: Locked Doors Aren't As Secure As You Think Full!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Eugeniya Artemova, Matthew Cox

X15609: How To Run A Spark

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Eugeniya Artemova, Matthew Cox, Hilary Zen

Spark is run by undergraduate and graduate students at MIT. And beyond MIT, there are other similar educational programs at universities and high schools nationwide. How does it all happen, and what are some of the things behind the scenes that you don't usually get to see? Come learn about all of the intricacies that go into running a massive program like Spark and find out how you can do it too! We'll cover what goes into organizing Spark at MIT, as well as resources and next steps if you want to run something like Spark at your own school. Presented by former Spark directors :)

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 1:05pm--1:55pm

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

X15497: Cookie Lab: The Science of Baking! Full!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Lisa Kondrich

X15511: Saving Lives: CPR and Stop the Bleed Full!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Sabrina Liu, Julia Situ

X15624: Patrol Full!

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Matthew Cox, Diana Shklover

X15496: Competitive Tetris: How to Play and How to Cope

Difficulty: ***

Teachers: Fareed Sheriff, Justin Yu

Get ready to take the first step in your journey to becoming a Tetris god. We discuss T-spin setups, forecasting, good downstacking, and more to guide you in reaching the next level of Tetris play.

Class Style
Seminar

Prerequisites
This class requires computers and the ability to play Tetris on the website tetr.io

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 2:05pm--4:55pm
Section 2: Sun 9:05am--11:55am
Section 3: Sun 1:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 21 (max 50)
Section 2: 3 (max 50)
Section 3: 3 (max 50)

X15591: Experiential Cartography

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Selin Sahin, Jehanzeb Shoaib

From cave paintings to the digital world, follow us into an exploration of how maps have evolved throughout human history. Through activity-based learning exercises, we will learn more about mapping.

Maps have been around since ancient times, with the earliest known maps being found in caves. These maps were simple drawings that represented landscapes and were used as a tool for navigation and as a way to communicate information about the environment. As civilizations developed and expanded, so did the complexity and sophistication of maps. In the Middle Ages, maps became more detailed and accurate as exploration and trade expanded across the world. The invention of the printing press allowed for maps to be mass-produced, making them more widely available.

With the advent of technology, maps have continued to evolve and improve. The invention of aerial photography and satellite imaging in the 20th century allowed for the creation of much more accurate maps, and the rise of digital technology has led to the creation of digital maps and GIS systems that allow for the storage and analysis of vast amounts of geospatial data.

Today, maps are used for a variety of purposes, from navigation and exploration to urban planning and scientific research. With advancements in technology, the possibilities for what maps can do and how they can be used are constantly expanding, making maps an essential tool in our understanding of the world.

Experiential mapping refers to a type of mapping that focuses on creating an immersive and interactive experience for the user. It's a way of presenting information in a dynamic and engaging manner, rather than just displaying data on a flat map.

Experiential maps can be created in a variety of ways, including using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and interactive web-based maps. These maps often use a combination of imagery, video, sound, and other sensory inputs to create a multidimensional experience for the user.

Experiential mapping is becoming increasingly popular as technology continues to evolve and users demand more engaging and interactive experiences. By providing a multisensory experience, experiential maps have the potential to enhance our understanding and appreciation of the world around us.

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 1:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 4 (max 12)

X15512: Intro to Business and Finance

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Feyi Adebekun, Anjalie Kini, Melinda Liu, Tatiana Vassiliev

So you’ve heard about finance... but what does that ~actually~ mean?
Come join our team of Sloan Business Club members to learn about general finance topics in an interactive 50-min session. After a brief lecture introducing you to the world of finance, you will engage in small groups with one of our members who will provide you with some tools to conduct simple analyses on potential investments.

Class Style
Lecture

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 2:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 3:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 25 (max 75)
Section 2: 29 (max 75)

X15588: Medieval Warfare

Difficulty: *

Teachers: Akshay Attaluri, Abhay Bestrapalli, Rishab Parthasarathy, Sumedh Shenoy

Learn about the art of warfare in medieval times, from strategies that the Romans used to the evolution of swords, and even warfare in the Lord of the Rings.

Class Style
Discussion

Prerequisites
Nothing!

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sun 12:05pm--12:55pm
Section 2: Sun 3:05pm--3:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 15 (max 50)
Section 2: Full! (max 50)

X15502: Puzzle Passionately, Procrastinate Productively

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Khalid Ajran, Benjamin Epstein

It's true! Logic puzzles are a fun way of putting off homework and responsibilities while benefitting by becoming smarter, and they're absolutely not a waste of time, MOM.

We'll introduce the rules to some logic puzzles like Sudoku, Slitherlink (aka Loopy), KenKen (aka Keen/TomTom), and more! We'll cover all the main categories of logic puzzles, so you're sure to find something you'll like. We'll then go over some puzzles together while explaining our reasoning, and then you'll have lots of time for trying to solve puzzles on your own, while we go around and help.

Class Style
Activity

Meeting Times
Section 1: Sat 1:05pm--2:55pm
Section 2: Sun 3:05pm--4:55pm

Grades
7 - 8
Enrollment
Section 1: 10 (max 20)
Section 2: Full! (max 20)

Z15553: Law & Order: MA Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Pavitra Chari

Z15597: Basics of Political Polling Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Francisco Proskauer Valerio, Ahaan Rungta

Materials for this class include: Slide Deck, Poll Results Memo Co-Written by Francisco

Z15536: (Super)human Nature Full!

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Clio Macrakis

Z15505: Humans and Plants: A Love Story

Difficulty: **

Teachers: Eldar Urkumbayev

$Ya like some ~jazz~ plants?$
Since the dawn of humankind, we dwelled in, ate, and otherwise used the greenery around us.
You can distinguish red and green? Thank the plants. Enjoying that whole upright walking? Plants (probably) did that as well! Remember you chummed down two bags of popcorn when Moana came out? Plants can sing Maui's "You're Welcome" in response, rest assured :)
In less than an hour, we will go on a tour through time and space to explore how our sprouty friends shaped us, and how we changed them in return.

Class Style
Lecture

Prerequisites
Know what evolution is, and general interest in plants

Meeting Time
Section 1: Sun 12:05pm--12:55pm

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

Spark 2023 Course Catalog

Spark 2023
Course Catalog