Does pineapple belong on pizza? Is social media good for society? From silly banter to major modern issues, debates are everywhere. Learn how to convince anyone of your hottest takes! This course will cover the fundamentals of debate. We’ll discuss how to analyze a topic, construct arguments, and respond to opposing points. We’ll then hone our critical thinking and communication skills by breaking into groups and having some debates of our own.

What’s a 5-letter word for “What might keep a watch on you”? How about “Part of a bike helmet” or “Subway rider’s handhold”? These are all clues for “strap”! If you like clever wordplay and “aha” moments, then you’d make an excellent cruciverbalist (crossword solver and/or creator)! In this course, we’ll talk about common conventions of crossword puzzles and strategies to help solve them. We’ll then put our skills to the test by solving some crossword puzzles ourselves! If there’s time, we’ll also touch on how crosswords are constructed.

You’ve probably heard of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, but how about mendelevium, neptunium, or tennessine? When Dimitri Mendeleev laid the foundation for the modern periodic table in 1869, he likely never expected that it would eventually contain 118 elements, especially one named after him! Incredibly, even after a century and a half of new discoveries, the patterns in the periodic table still hold today. The exact same reference you see in classrooms and textbooks informs everyone doing chemistry-related work, from designing cosmetics to testing medicines. In this course, we will go over a brief history of the periodic table and learn about some of the information it contains, such as the details of each element and “periodic trends” of chemical properties. If there’s time, we’ll also cover electron orbitals and how they relate to the periodic table.