Course Offerings

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health has become a popular topic in schools, news, and even at your favorite restaurants or activity spaces. But what is public health? And how does health differ between countries all over the world? This course will explore the ways culture and climate impact health. In this class, we will learn what public health looks like in our community in Seattle and will compare the ways in which public health appears in countries from three other continents. We will learn the basics of public health functions such as policy, epidemiology, health systems management, and community development. Instructor: Claire Rater

In this course, students will collect and create sonic elements to compose 'soundwalks' using the geo fencing web tool called echoes.xyz. 'Soundwalks' are, in essence, location specific walks guided by recorded sound or voice. This relatively new medium of composition uses our surrounding environment as a performance venue in and of itself and questions the barrier between automated process and organic experience. In addition to creating our own, we will also learn the history of soundwalks as it pertains to music, technological literacy, geographical awareness, and storytelling. Is a soundwalk a performance, a recording, or an installation? Together, we will decide. Instructor: Henry Webster

This class is designed for students who want to learn the basics of 3D design and 3D printing. We'll learn the ins and outs of designing in 3D using TinkerCAD (a free online program). This is about more than just 3D design, however; it's about designing with 3D printing in mind. We'll go through the design process, how to design things with the capabilities (and limitations) of 3D printers, the step-by-step process to transfer files to a printer via a Slicer, and how to print files! We'll also discuss advanced techniques of 3D printing. The course will be capped off with a final project that we will print. This class is the best way to jump into the fascinating technology of 3D printing. Instructor: Brian Jaffe

Together we will learn how to play and design TTRPGs (Table Top Role-playing Games), We'll create characters, work in groups to create settings for adventures, then take turns being the game master leading parties through harrowing adventures. We'll start off in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition and use that as our foundation for understanding role-playing games before we go adventuring in other worlds and systems. We'll have guest speakers, take field trips, explore fantasy and sci-fi literature, creative writing, mathematical modeling and probability, game design, ethics, world mythologies, civics and history, all to make the ultimate role-playing experiences! After two weeks of playing TTRPGs, we'll try our hand at inventing our own! No experience required. Just bring your imagination and a thirst for adventure! Instructors: John Benner and Michelle Herrmann

This class welcomes curious new writers as well as seasoned storytellers and poets to an exploration of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. We'll read widely and deeply, practice descriptive and figurative writing strategies, and hone peer-review skills in college-style writing workshops. We'll also bring in other modes of learning--from painting and dance to history and brain science--as sparks for our stories, poems, and personal narratives. We'll conclude our time together with a celebratory reading and a chance to contribute to a digital publication. This course is tied to Common Core English standards and introduces a wide variety of tools for critical close reading and imaginative response. Instructor: Jay Thompson

Students in this course will explore the City of Seattle and find inspiration from a variety of places: the Seattle Art Museum, the Central Library, the Woodland Park Zoo, the Seattle Japanese Garden, and many other locations both on campus and off. These field trips will serve as inspiration for writing assignments in all genres, including essays, poems, stories, and graphic novels. We will read and discuss authors and artists, contemporary and historical, from around the world who have drawn inspiration from their environment. The class will emphasize improving the quality of our writing, taking creative risks, and sharing an open and artistic community with other writers. Our work will culminate in the production of a class literary journal composed of work created during our time together. Instructor: Bill Carty

Students will learn to use digital storytelling tools and techniques to explore, understand, and tell personal stories, as well as the art of storytelling, the importance of family and personal history, and the opportunities technology provides in telling stories today. We'll begin with an introduction to early storytelling methods such as oral histories, moving on to other non-digital tools such as written books and dance. During the second week, students will learn about digital storytelling tools and techniques such as digital photographs, audio, and video documentation. As the final project, students will create a digital genealogy project from the perspective of their early adolescent selves, selecting a digital storytelling technique to create and merge their stories and work. These projects will use historic family, personal, and institutional records such as maps, photographs, letters, and audio and video recordings. Instructor: Itza Carbajal

Imagine a peaceful, happy society where there are enough resources for everyone. Could such a community actually exist? What might we have to give up to achieve it? Each week we will read compelling, kid-tested dystopian fiction that specifically touches on issues in human genetics. We'll wrestle with tough questions: How much should we tinker with nature? Who's "fit" enough (and who decides)? How should we balance the needs of individuals and communities? At the same time, we'll dig deep into the science behind the stories, building  models, playing games, and performing experiments and computer simulations that make complex biological systems easy to grasp (or taste). Finally, you'll imagine and share your own ideal society. This course is for anyone who's curious about how DNA works, wonders about how our society should use our scientific knowledge, likes to make connections between subjects--or just loves a good story! Instructor: Jennifer Thomas

When we think about scientists, we often imagine someone in a white lab coat, wearing goggles, and doing cool experiments that can change the world. This course will begin by reevaluating, redefining, and challenging what it means to be a scientist. Through techniques related to identity formation and storytelling, we will rediscover how we've been scientists our entire lives. Then we will explore five main themes of biology governed by the Next Generation Science Standards: 1) structure and function, 2) inheritance and variation of traits, 3) matter and energy in organisms and ecosystems, 4) interdependent relationships in ecosystems, and 5) natural selection and evolution. Each theme will have activities that involve collaborating with others and nature from the different domains of life to better understand how invisible and theoretical biological mechanisms play a role in our daily lives. Instructor: Kyle Duong

As the popularity of comics and graphic novels continues to grow, more people are picking up pencils and telling their stories visually. In this class, an experienced graphic novelist will guide you in the basics of comics creation, including character design, facial expressions, character poses, creating a sense of place, story planning, generating dialogue, page composition, inking, shading, coloring, and more, with the ultimate goal of all students contributing their finished comics to an in-class publication. Drawing ability is sometimes helpful, but not as important as a desire to communicate clearly with words and pictures. Instructor: David Lasky

Explore the world of robotics in a hands-on, minds-on program that fosters collaborative problem-solving. Build, program, and test robots. Think about (and discuss) what makes a machine a robot, what functions robots serve, what structures and components are required to accomplish different functions, and what's next in robotics. Using VEX-IQ, students learn the fundamentals of sound building techniques and a graphical programming language while applying principles of the engineering design cycle. Instructors: Sarah Clayton and Jinda Rosmann

How are rockets designed to launch into the sky? How is water cleaned to be safe and drinkable? How effective are antibiotics at killing germs? These are just some of the questions we will answer as we explore the modern marvels of engineering and science that make up our world today. In the class, we will learn how to combine our creative and scientific minds in a variety of hands-on lab activities as we brainstorm, design, build, and prototype clever solutions to address today's engineering challenges. 

Join Next City as we go for a ride and learn about how to make sustainable transit-oriented cities! Together we will learn how public transportation works, the future of urban transportation, and what it takes to make sustainable cities. This course seeks to raise awareness around transportation and urban planning and the role city planners and residents have in shaping the future of their city. Using a mixture of in-class activities and field trips, students will get a firsthand look at how Seattle is both fun and functional. Applying the lessons learned from these trips, our exploration of transportation, and how to design sustainably, we will cap off the course by creating our own city. Ultimately, students will become savvy urban planners ready to help build sustainable transit-oriented cities. What will you help us all create? Instructors: Lamis Ashour and Chelle Tobey

Almost everyone loves riding a roller coaster. Amusement parks are building them higher, faster, longer, and much more thrilling. The physics underlying the design and building of a roller coaster are amazingly simple. In this course, we will be learning when potential and kinetic energy trade places, how forces work to move us around and keep us in our seats, what happens when we accelerate, why we feel weightless during the dips, plus a whole lot more. Each student will design, build, and test their own model roller coaster using engineering techniques pioneered by the coaster experts. Instructors: Burton Barrager & Jeff Armentrout

Who are you? To grapple with this question, we must also ask, where are you? In this interdisciplinary writing course, we will begin to answer these questions by reading stories about the Pacific Northwest and crafting our own. With an eye to geology, history, literature, personal experience, and more we'll learn the intertwining narratives of local mountains, waters, trees, peoples, and much more as we write about our surroundings—and write in them. In practicing immersive nature writing, we'll also engage in field trips to stir the imagination and write meaningfully about our place in the world around us, in personal narratives, observational nature writing, short stories, and more. Instructor: Molly Porter

Students will be introduced to the concepts of strategic planning, strategic thinking, tactical thinking, and problem solving in the controlled environment of board games. Using multiple examples of chess (individual and team variants), students learn grid coordinate systems, piece values and math skills, algebraic notation, resource management (materials vs position vs time), strategy vs tactics, logic, probabilities, and risk management. At the end of the course, students will design their own board games, present them to the class, explain strategic and tactical concepts unique to their board games, and play each other for feedback. Instructor: Cary Ray Easterday

Chemistry is not just a subject, it's a mindset. Through collaboration and hands-on activities, students in this course will explore the relationship between chemical structure and function of the materials in our world. We will investigate how and why substances act and react with each other the way they do. The scientific method will be introduced through the process of forming a hypothesis and by designing and carrying out experiments to test the hypothesis. Chemistry concepts and reasoning skills will be applied to problem-solving in various hypothetical scenarios, such as survival situations and crime investigations. Instructor: Karyn Mlodnosky

Students will explore spinning planets, blazing meteors, exploding stars, distant galaxies and the intriguing question, "Is there life beyond Earth?" We'll take a tour through the universe exploring all of these things and more. We will cover the properties and evolution of objects in our solar system and then move on to extra-solar planets, stars, galaxies, and the structure and fate of the universe. Along the way, you'll build knowledge of the tools of the astronomer including the physics of light, optics, rockets, and rovers. Using physics, math, chemistry, and geology we'll uncover the science of our universe! Classes will include guest lectures by astronomers, a visit to the planetarium, hands-on lab activities, and an evening of observing with telescopes. Instructors: Kristie Bennett and H. B. Telling