May Term 2024 Catalog

This course will provide a brief introduction to issues dealing with the Appalachian region, particularly Southern and Central Appalachia. This course will focus primarily on how the region has been perceived in American popular culture through film. Students will acquire an understanding of the important issues of Appalachian history, as well as an understanding of the popular perception of the region.

Note: This course will require parental permission from every enrolled student. Films/books/and classroom discussion may contain adult content in some form, whether it be violence, sex, drugs, language, or all the above. Even if the student is 17 or 18, parental permission will be required. Students will receive permission forms soon after enrollment is approved.

This May Term experience will explore the mathematics and problem solving strategies that are incorporated in the playing, and hopefully winning of board games. A variety of problem solving strategies in addition to mathematical concepts will be studied and applied in the board games chosen for this two week adventure. Included among these are optimization strategies, cooperative game strategies, risk vs. reward strategies, deductive reasoning, spatial orientation, and graph theory.

We will meet as a group 3 hours a day; you will independently meet 3 hours per day and keep a log of the time spent playing the games. Each individual will be required to submit a 2-page report on one of his or her favorite games played during the week. In this report, you should include a brief description of the game itself, why you liked playing the game, and explanation of the math and/or problem solving strategies you and others used to try to win the game, and which strategies seemed to be successful and which ones were not.

Please see the Indiana Academy website for the requirements and application for a May Term Internship. Follow the directions and remember you still need to submit your Course Request Form along with the May Term Internship application materials. Please direct any questions about May Term Internships to Dr. Joel Olufowote in WA 172 and the completed application forms need to be submitted to Ms. Candace Manship in WA 170.

This course is an introduction to French cinema. We will watch films representing a variety of time-periods, subjects, and genres. Directors may include Cocteau, Godard, Truffaut, Marker, Malle, Palcy, Denis, Berri, Jeunet, Boon, and others. I anticipate that we will watch about 10 films and discuss them. This is a discussion-based class. The students will analyze and compare French films, learn about French culture, present information and arguments, write response papers, and participate in discussions. No previous experience in French is required for the class.

Note: This course will require parental permission from every enrolled student. Films/books/and classroom discussion may contain adult content in some form, whether it be violence, sex, drugs, language, or all the above. Even if the student is 17 or 18, parental permission will be required. Students will receive permission forms soon after enrollment is approved.

A basic understanding of the evolution of electronic devices and computer systems is essential in today’s world considering the impact of computers. This course will look at the basics of digital technology and how the electronic technology has shifted from analog systems to digital systems. Although much of the current technology is based on digital electronics, analog electronics have some advantages over analog technologies. The course explores the transformation from analog to digital systems with a focus on the applications of Logic Gates as the building blocks for digital circuits. In addition, students will get a hands-on experience in designing basic electronic circuits using breadboards and electronic components. This will give the students an understanding of how technology has evolved from analog to digital, provide the opportunity to relate digital electronics to real-life experiences, and the opportunity to design an electronic device.

How can we better see and understand the world around us? This course proposes to explore, if not answer, this question through onsite sketching and drawing. Students will learn basic sketching techniques to observe and record their impressions of what Ball State campus and Muncie, Indiana look and feel like today. There will be extensive walking most days, as long as the weather is reasonably dry, to find interesting sketching locations on campus and off campus. This is a hands-on participation experience with traditional lecture/content instruction regarding historical content. Students will be exposed to basic techniques in landscape and architectural sketching and drawing. They will explore historical changes in the American landscape, and will imagine both past and future landscapes.

This course introduces students to several iconic American horror films from the 1970s and 1980s across the world. American directors like Tobe Hooper, Joe Dante, Stanley Kubrick, and John Carpenter will be included, but so will films by Obayashi and Dario Argento. These artists made horror films that quoted liberally from the horror of the 1950s and 1960s and yet established their own uniqueness and power that continue to inform the language of today’s horror films. Students will watch 4-5 horror films from the seventies and 4-5 from the eighties. Through discussion, research, and informal writing, we will dissect the horror on display in these films, see how they hold up and how their visual grammars work, and consider where the form is today.

Note: This course will require parental permission from every enrolled student. Every film shown contains adult content in some form, whether it be violence, sex, drugs, language, or all the above. Even if the student is 17 or 18, parental permission will be required. Students will receive permission forms soon after enrollment is approved.

Do you enjoy participating in soccer matches? Do you enjoy following soccer? Do you enjoy debating and discussing soccer matches? Have you ever wished you could play soccer like a global icon but were never given the opportunity? This is your moment to express your opinions. This course aims to teach students, regardless of prior soccer experience, the fundamentals of the game and how to use fundamental statistical concepts to evaluate each game. Together with your peers, you will observe previous soccer matches, collect data, and then debate and evaluate the different variables you have collected data on. You will examine the data collected during each game using straightforward but relevant graphical representations. Less work will be assigned outside of class unless students are unable to finish a particular assignment.

This course examines the folklore surrounding legendary and mythical creatures throughout Latin America and the cultural and societal roles that they play. As part of this course, students will engage with these monstrous creatures through readings, videos, classroom discussions, as well as reflective, analytical and creative writing. By the end of this course, students will be able to reflect upon myths and legends in tier own cultures and compare and contrast them with those in Latin America. Students will be able to create and write about their own monster and its corresponding legends.

Note: This course will require parental permission from every enrolled student. Films/books/and classroom discussion may contain adult content in some form, whether it be violence, sex, drugs, language, or all the above. Even if the student is 17 or 18, parental permission will be required. Students will receive permission forms soon after enrollment is approved.

This course will be an exploration and critique of the scientific essence of science fiction movies. We will be conducting discussions about the science and the realism of the science used in the plot, the world-building, and story mechanics as it pertains to physics and astrophysics.

Note: This course will require parental permission from every enrolled student. Films/books/and classroom discussion may contain adult content in some form, whether it be violence, sex, drugs, language, or all the above. Even if the student is 17 or 18, parental permission will be required. Students will receive permission forms soon after enrollment is approved.

World-building is a big deal. For the better part of a century, our culture has been fascinated with imagining, building, writing about and playing fictional universes. Creative industries rely ever more not just on a premise or situation, but a coherent setting for a variety of projects and media modes. Such endeavors require both creativity and collaboration, playfulness and discipline. They also require teamwork, as such endeavors now grow to great scale at great speed.

Over this course of two weeks, this May Term course will provide students with the opportunity to work together to create an original, dynamic game setting drawn from the gathered students’ collective imagination. It will make use of a library of independently developed games – many of which are designed to fashion settings and scenarios for storytelling and other ludic activities – to create, populate, and forge a history for a fictional setting that will, in turn, be used as a basis for student-designed games.

Immerse yourself in a hands-on, creative experience as you and your fellow students write, direct, produce and act in short plays. Your efforts will result in a performance, or two, of a collection of your short plays for the Academy community. Along the way, you will learn about different genres of plays and their particular demands and challenges to create. No previous experience with any of these things are required – just enthusiasm, a desire to learn and create, and an interest in being a part of a unique, collaborative project.

The class will meet in the mornings the first week, while your homework will be reading a few plays and writing your own script. The second week will be blocking, rehearsing, tech, promotion, performances, and set, prop and costume design/construction. Those will be morning and afternoon, but with little to no homework.

Education is a journey of sight and sound and of mind – that phrase may sound familiar because it is paraphrased from the opening to one of television’s most famous shows: The Twilight Zone. This genre-defying show utilized elements of fantasy, science-fiction, and horror, to openly confront taboo topics and advocate for social justice. In this class, we will watch and discuss The Twilight Zone’s most famous, and some of its most often overlooked, episodes to learn how this particular television program became a cultural icon. Additionally, we will discover how the show predicted the most topical issues of our times, from crime and consumerism to the building of robots and space exploration, while also giving us imagined glimpses into past histories and future worlds. Coursework will involve watching episodes of the show, participating in class discussion, composing short writings in response to short readings, and lastly creating a visual component of the student’s preference. Overall, students will reflect on how the artistry of popular entertainment like The Twilight Zone, a show whose very name became a common phrase of the English language, can both comfort and confront an audience through immersion in stories.

With dramatic fires in Canada, the western U.S., Hawaii, and elsewhere, wildfire has captured the attention of many. Information from satellite imagery and other sources suggests that wildfire activity is also increasing in some parts of the eastern United States. The Wildfire class is a hands-on course and will examine available data on wildfires and prescribed fires that have occurred in the United States in recent decades to address several related research questions. This will entail use of publicly accessible databases and software, data compilation, analysis, and writing. Students should bring a laptop to class each day. It is recommended that each student have an actual laptop computer rather than an iPad or other mobile device.

Adventure Korean Cultural Class is designed for students who are interested in Korean culture or Asian culture in general. Since the class is taught in English, all students are welcome. This class provides rich opportunities to experience cultural activities such as K-pop dance, K-food, K-movies, and Korean language (Korean alphabet/Korean for a travel purpose). For example, in a K-pop dance class, students learn and perform K-pop dances. In a K-Food class, they explore the characteristics of Korean food and cook some Korean food. They learn Korean dining etiquette by eating the food they prepare. Every Friday, students enjoy selected Korean movies that reflect Korean society and Korean people. As for the Korean language, students have two options. Those who haven’t learned Korean can learn the Korean alphabet, which is very systematic. They can read everything after a two-week term. Those who have completed Korean Beginning Two (Korean 1B) can learn Korean for travel purposes. Discover the wonders of Korea at the Indiana Academy for a full-immersion cultural experience!