Students in this course will develop the writing and performance skills needed to become clear, compelling, confident, and persuasive public speakers. We will practice a variety of speaking styles, including impromptu (speaking “off the cuff” on a randomly selected topic), dramatic interpretation (of monologues from novels, plays, and films), debate (defending a position on a controversial issue), and oratory (a formal speech that seeks to inform, inspire, or persuade on a topic of your choice). We will also study, view, and analyze the performances of some of the most powerful orators of the past century. If you are seeking to reduce your anxiety about public speaking, this course provides a friendly, nonthreatening environment in which to increase your confidence. If you already enjoy public speaking, you will have an opportunity to enhance and practice your skills.

Social psychology is the scientific study of the way people think about, feel, and behave in social situations. It involves understanding how people influence, and are influenced by, the others around them. A primary goal of this course is to introduce you to the perspectives, research methods, and empirical findings of social psychology. We will use a college-level textbook along with supplementary readings to cover topics including: impression formation, conformity, prosocial behavior, interpersonal attraction, persuasion, stereotyping and prejudice. Equally important is the goal of cultivating your skills for analyzing the social situations and events that you encounter in your everyday lives. Finally, throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on developing critical and integrative ways of thinking about theory and research in social psychology.

This course will provide an overview of social institutions and functions addressed in the practice of law. Students will participate in each of the lawyer’s roles: investigation, research, advocacy, negotiation, trial preparation, and dispute resolution. In the process, students will examine the nature and history of law, interrogate parties, argue hypothetical cases, arbitrate conflicts, and draft legal documents. This class will require active participation in lively classroom activities and projects, which will include simulated trials, oral argument, and case briefing. Students will be encouraged to participate freely in robust classroom discussions and debates, with a premium placed on the open exchange of ideas and opinions. The course will culminate in a mock trial conducted in a local courtroom before a judge. College-level texts will be used.

This course is a concentrated, practical and exciting introduction to business for high school students. Students will explore fundamental principles of finance and economics, including the basics of valuation, risk and return, and demand and supply. The course will emphasize real-world application through applied problems and projects, and guest speakers, including financial industry professionals and entrepreneurs. We will study how firms make decisions, the role of banks and markets, and we will explore timely macroeconomic topics such as government debt and deficits, currency fluctuation, recession, and financial and currency crises. Throughout, students will increase their financial literacy and gain tools for personal financial planning for college and beyond, including how interest accumulates, the pitfalls of credit, and understanding residential mortgage terms and risks. Students will find that the connections between these topics and the mathematical concepts they have learned in school will make their math classes more interesting and relevant.

‘Philosophy’ derives from the Greek ‘philosophia,’ meaning love of wisdom. Philosophy is an investigation into the basic phenomena, categories, kinds, and principles that form the background of our thought and reasoning about anything whatsoever. Philosophical topics include the nature of mind, freedom, value, logic, knowledge, perception and reality. This course serves as an introduction to some of the classics of Western philosophy and to some of the central issues facing philosophers today. Students will gain practice reading, analyzing and discussing selections of college-level primary source material and reflecting on philosophical theories and problems. Some of the authors we will read include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein and Heidegger. By the end of the course, students will have an appreciation of the nature and importance of philosophical inquiry and of the significance of the history of philosophy.

‘This course provides an opportunity for students to prepare for the May 2013 AP examination in Psychology. The course is guided by the AP Psychology syllabus and covers the following areas: history of psychology as a science, research methods, statistics, biological bases of behavior, sensation and perception, states of consciousness, learning, cognition, motivation and emotion, developmental psychology, personality, testing and individual differences, abnormal psychology, treatment of psychological disorders, and social psychology. The course uses a college textbook and will require a lot of reading, active participation in classroom activities (discussions and labs), completion of an independent research project, and completion of examination questions similar to those given in the actual AP examination.