GATE: Gifted and Talented EducationTrack D-1 Descriptions
Earth, Weather, Atmosphere, and Climate
One of the most complex systems in day-to-day life is that of the climate. We’ll use the scientific techniques used to analyze and understand factors like the temperature, wind, precipitation, and extreme events that make up the weather we interact with.
Monday: Minerals, Rocks, and the Earth’s Structure
Tuesday: Earth’s Crust in Motion
Wednesday: Weathering and Erosion
Thursday: The Earth’s Atmosphere and Water Cycle
Friday: Weather and Climate
Hatch Your Hustle: Developing the Skills to be an Entrepreneur and Innovator
Entrepreneurship and Innovation are the driving forces when comes to wealth creation and societal impact.
In the course, students will assess, explore, and critique the world of entrepreneurship and innovation. Both, entrepreneurship and innovation is approached as a way of thinking and acting, as an attitude and a behavior. The emphasis is on entrepreneurship and innovation as a process that can be applied in virtually any organizational setting.
The main focus will be on the creation of new ventures and business models, the ways that they come into being, and factors associated with their success. This is a course of many ideas and questions, and students will be encouraged to develop and defend their own set of conclusions regarding each of these issues.
Students will learn from various guest speakers, active conversation, and hands on implementation.
Monday: What is an entrepreneur? Students will go over what makes entrepreneur.
Tuesday: Time to ideate. Students will form teams and start ideating their business and select roles.
Wednesday: Guest Speakers! Students will have the opportunity to ask questions to a panel of entrepreneurs/small business owners.
Thursday: Action plan and Pitch. Students do research on business model and devise action plan.
Friday: Get ready to pitch. Students create pitch deck and present their business idea.
Fire the Laser!: Optics Course
While the inner workings of optics can be very complicated, its behavior in the day-to-day is surprisingly predictable. We’ll discuss the fundamental laws that govern the path of a beam of light and we’ll use mirrors, prisms, and lenses to apply that knowledge to strike our target without warning, despite barriers!
Monday: Discuss the sine function and angle measurements. Provide the Law of Reflection and have the students predict the path of a laser through the use of a protractor, straight edge, and calculator.
Tuesday: Discuss the Law of Refraction. Have the students predict the path of light as it travels through triangles and rectangles.
Wednesday: Give the students a small obstacle course to aim a laser from point A to point B.
Thursday: Discuss the use of semicircles and the effects they have on rays of light. Discuss perpendicular lines. Provide another obstacle course, with only refraction to lead them to victory.
Friday: Introduce lenses and discuss the effects they have on rays of light.