LSAS Summer Courses

Course Descriptions

Learning Through Historic Places (Grades 6+)
Instructor: Mr. Percoco
Take virtual field trips to dozens of historic sites across the United States with Mr. Percoco as your guide. Selected sites would be through the National Park Service program, Teaching With Historic Places, and would connect students with the broad range of historical eras that make up the American narrative. Content would be delivered through a variety of mediums including use of primary sources and applications of related short videos.

Classic Science Fiction Short Stories (High School)
Instructor: Dr. Oliveau
We will read and discuss my favorite classic short stories from the 20th Century. Alternate realities and advanced technologies allow the authors to examine what it is to be human and how advances in the future could make our world much better or much worse. These stories often have a moral or a life lesson hidden within them, but I suspect that each of us will see something different.

Dune (High School)
Instructor: Dr. Oliveau
Dune is one of the great science fiction novels. Written in 1965, it predicted the coming Energy Crisis of the 1970s and the rise of Jihadist Fundamentalism. In the Dune universe, there are no computers. Instead, castes of humans are each enhanced with different powers: calculation and memorization, reading and manipulation of others, foretelling the future, racial and genetic engineering. All of these powers depend on a single drug, which comes from only one planet:  Dune.

Astronomy (Grades 6+)
Instructor: Mr. Romero
Astronomy endeavors to answer big questions such as, what is out in the universe and where do we fit in it. We will take a balanced approach, looking at the known phenomena in our universe as well as the open questions that spur current research. Current and past research methods will be analyzed to provide a closer look at how both professional and amateur scientists contributed to our knowledge of the universe. To add context, we will look at relevant historical developments and the people or cultures behind them. A survey will be sent before the first class. Based on student feedback, topics will be changed.

Thirty Years that Shook Physics (High School)
Instructor: Mr. Romero
The years between 1900 and 1930 brought a drastic change in man’s view of the universe. From Max Planchk’s momentous description of light quanta in 1900 to P.A.M. Dirac’s 1929 prediction of anti-particles was a period of breath-taking progress in theoretical physics.” Inspired by George Gamow’s book of the same name, we will take a look at the observations made in the early 20th century and their effects on human understanding of the physical world.

Comics as Literature (High School)
Instructor: Dr. Clinton
Students will read comics (including both personal memoirs and genre stories), learn the principles of visual storytelling, and make comics of their own. Note: you don't have to be able to draw to take this class. The two parts of this course may be taken together or separately.

• Part 1: Memories & Memoirs. This part of the course will focus on memoirs and realist fiction. We will focus on the way that artists capture the texture of lived experience through their use of visual language. We will read coming of age stories by Chris Ware, Lynda Barry, and others.

• Part 2: Genre & Escapism. This part of the course will focus on comics that veer away from everyday life into worlds rooted in the conventions of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. How do artists engage with popular culture and yet capture personal experience at the same time?