curriculum

Courses

Students take the following courses:

Calculus or Calculus (Advanced)
Physics I or Physics II or Physics III
Chemistry or Biology or Biochemistry
Humanities
Internet Programming
Mechanical Engineering Design / Robotics
Genomics

Course Topics

Biochemistry
The structures and functions of biological macromolecules and fundamental topics in biochemistry, including buffers, stereoisomers, reaction mechanisms, enzyme kinetics, electrophoresis, and DNA sequencing.

Biology
The fundamentals of molecular biology including biological molecules and their roles in cells, metabolism, DNA replication, transcription, translation, gene regulation, and recombinant DNA methods.

Chemistry
In-depth study of several fundamentals, including atomic theory and structure, states of matter, nuclear chemistry, chemical bonding, solid structures and semiconductors, and electrochemistry.

Calculus
Review of relevant topics from algebra and trigonometry, as well as epsilon-delta proofs, derivatives, (the derivation of all the rules of differentiation, applications of the first derivative and higher derivatives,) anti-differentiation, the fundamental theorem of calculus, approximating area under a curve, and work.

Calculus (Advanced)
A review of the related material from first-year calculus (as taught in AP Calculus BC courses) combined with the standard material for the differential calculus of functions of several real variables (second-year college Calculus).

Humanities
Writing, speaking, and analytical reading skill development using complex texts from several genres focusing on both "Race, Ethnicity, and American Identity," and "Science and Ethics."

Physics I
Non-calculus based topics in kinematics, the Newtonian laws, impulse and momentum, and energy.

Physics II
An investigation of basic mechanics (kinematics, forces, energy, momentum, rotation), circuits (electric fields and forces, basic circuit components and combinations) and geometric optics (refraction, lenses, ray tracing).

Physics III
Various wave phenomena, including oscillations, mechanical waves, electromagnetic waves, matter waves (elementary quantum mechanics), and special theory of relativity.

Internet Programming (5 Weeks)
Introduction to HTML and Perl languages to design and build interactive web sites in teams of three.

Mechanical Engineering Design / Robotics (5 Weeks)
Using the peer-review evaluation process commonly practiced by engineers, design teams used machine tools and limited parts to build remotely controlled robots that competed on an obstacle course.

Utilizing the classroom and machine shop in the Edgerton Center, and studio space graciously provided by the Department of Urban Studies and
Planning, the engineering teams spent about twenty hours each designing, building, and testing their devices. The competitions and presentations are attended by sponsors and countless others from the MIT community.

Genomics (5 Weeks)
Twelve students sequence a human gene associated with a disease, such as cystic fibrosis. The course is held at the MIT Broad Institute Center for Genome Research, where approximately 1/3 of the human genome was sequenced. With a grant from the National Institutes of Health, this course provides another option to the engineering project courses, enabling us to scale to a larger program size without diminishing the educational quality of any project course. Genomics culminates with informative poster presentations by the student researchers, an event designed to simulate a scientific research conference.

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Last updated: 04 October 2005