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2009-2010 Courses
English
Women in Art and Literature: “Tell Me Your Diamonds”
Instructors: Marsha Scherbel and Christopher Wilson, The Holton-Arms School
Offered second semester
Course description:
Prerequisite: Students must have completed or currently be enrolled in a secondary level U.S. History course.
How do women tell their stories? “Tell me your diamonds,” requests the title character in Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved. How do women answer such calls to recount their pasts? How do they resist narratives that others have imposed on them? This online course focuses on Beloved, which was recently named the most important work of fiction of the past twenty-five years, and explores it alongside thematically related examples of visual art. From paintings of heroic biblical women by seventeenth-century Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi to Morrison’s portraits of former slaves, women look at the past, comment on the present and often instigate social change. They find meaning in past experiences, including painful ones, and in the process transmute memory into art. What wisdom or warning – what diamonds? – can they offer to today’s viewers and readers, especially female students?
Text: Beloved by Toni Morison; Vintage, 2004, paperback
Mathematics
Multivariable Calculus
Instructor: Jennifer Webster, The Harpeth Hall School
Offered first semester
Course Description:
Prerequisite: AP Calculus BC
This course will cover some topics that are not part of the AP Calculus BC curriculum, such as calculating volumes by using shells, surfaces of revolution, and centers of mass and centroids, among others. We will also explore topics that are studied in a typical college-level third semester calculus course. These include vectors and vector-valued functions, differentiation in several variables, optimization in several variables, multiple integration, and line and surface integrals.
Textbook:
Multivariable Calculus (8th edition), by Ron Larson,
Published by Brooks/Cole
ISBN: 0-618-50302-1
Please note that this is NOT the long version of the book (chapters 1 - 15) or the high school version (chapters 1 - 10). We are asking you to purchase the supplement ONLY (chapters 11 – 15) so be sure to check the ISBN carefully.
Differential Equations
Instructor: Jennifer Webster, The Harpeth Hall School
Offered second semester
Course description:
Prerequisite: Multivariable Calculus
This course will provide an introduction to differential equations. Topics will include: solving first-order and simple higher-order equations with applications to various scientific fields (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.); solving linear differential equations and their applications; and Laplace transform methods.
Textbook:
A First Course in Differential Equations with Modeling Applications (Ninth Edition), Dennis G. Zill.
ISBN: 978-0-495-10824-5
Electronic text available here.
Science
Genetics
Instructor: Heather Mannella, Westover School
Offered both first and second semesters
Course Description:
Prerequisite: High school level introductory Biology course
This course will introduce students to the fundamental concepts in genetics. We will cover topics in classical Mendelian genetics as well as more modern concepts such as pedigree analysis, gene mapping, chromosomes and DNA, cancer and mutations, and population genetics. In addition we will explore new and emerging research in the field and the controversies that often accompany technological advances.
Textbook:
Genetics: A Conceptual Approach (3rd edition) by Benjamin Pierce
Hard cover textbook:
ISBN: 9780716779285
~$120 (new) ~$75 used
Soft cover textbook:
ISBN: 9781429233248
~$95
eBook -
$49.95 - purchased directly on the website and then activated. Accessed via the internet
Computer Science
Introduction to Computer Science
Instructor: Kate Seyboth, Westover School
Offered second semester
Course description:
Prerequisite: must be either enrolled in or have completed Algebra I
This course is a pre-requisite for AP Computer Science.
In this course students will be learning some of the basics of Computer Science and Programming. We will be using the Java language to create both command line programs and Java Applets utilizing conditionals, loops, and methods. We will also be learning about the parts of Computers and Networks and exploring some of the history and ethics of computers and technology. This course provides the foundation needed to tackle the AP Computer Science course in the future.
Textbook:
Java Software Solutions for AP Computer Science, 2nd Edition
By John Lewis, William Loftus, Cara Cocking
ISBN-10: 0-13-222251-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-222251-8
Social Science
American Government (AP option available)
Instructor: David Huston, Laurel School
Offered second semester
Course description:
Co-requisite: Students must have completed or currently taking a course in U.S. History from 1600 to the present.
American Government is a study of justice and power, as these two values are pursued within the context of contemporary American society and politics. This course investigates the historical and ideological roots of American government, its fundamental institutions and practices, and the political and social landscape within which they operate. Through a factual study of American government and a philosophical reflection on the nation’s founding documents and analyses—such as the Declaration of Independence, the Philadelphia Convention debates, the U.S. Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the astute insights of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, as well as numerous Supreme Court decisions, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and many reflective essays on American politics—students will gain a deep understanding and appreciation for the aspirations, strengths and limitations of the American system of government.
Student work will include readings from Think: American Government and a series of primary sources; weekly reflections on articles from the current press, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and other journals of opinion. Students will view and comment on several video series developed for college courses on American government; participate in on-line discussion boards; keep a reflective journal on issues of the day; research and construct a wiki-based web site on a public policy issue; and write opposing speeches on current political controversies.
An AP option is available for this course. While the factual content and activities will remain the same, students who wish to prepare for the AP American Government exam will have the option of practicing AP-style multiple choice questions and writing and receiving constructive feedback on AP-style essay questions.
Texts:
Hamilton, Alexander, John Jay, and James Madison. The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States. Modern Library, 2001.
Tannahill, Neal. Think American Government. 1st ed. Longman, 2009.
Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. University Of Chicago Press, 2002.
