How we behave under stress often gives a rare, unfiltered glimpse into how we think and act, but what about our institutions? Examine the UN—specifically, the World Health Organization (WHO)—by studying past epidemics such as Ebola and AIDS in order to effectively address a future global health crisis.

Start building your communication superpowers by learning just how cool words and language can be! In this course you will study excerpts from classic stories like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Wind and the Willows, and The Jungle Book, to analyze parts of speech and explore the flow of words and how they fit together to convey meaning.

Working through five units, you’ll write creative pieces and work with your classmates to review each other’s work and share ideas.

For generations, great mysteries have captivated readers with compelling characters and suspenseful storytelling punctuated by intriguing, unconventional sleuths like Eve Titus’s Basil of Baker Street and Wendelin Van Draanen’s Sammy Keyes. In this course, we’ll analyze and interpret examples of the genre, gaining expertise with literary elements such as foreshadowing, tone, and narrative arc. What does it take to be a great detective? How do mystery writers keep us guessing?

Why are round-trip fares from Orlando to Kansas City higher than those from Kansas City to Orlando? How do interest-rate adjustments affect the real estate market? How does one calculate the price-to-earnings ratio of a stock and use it to predict future performance? Mathematics plays an indispensable part in answering these questions.

What rights would you give up in order to feel safe? What safety would you give up to protect your rights? How does a democratic republic, with rights reserved for both the federal and state governments, create a coherent response to a crisis? Drawing upon a variety of documents, explore U.S. policy decisions during crises such as the Civil War and 9/11 and their long-term effects. In a pandemic, for instance, is a church or a gun store an essential service? Who decides?

Geometric and spatial reasoning skills are essential for living in and making sense of the world around us. Everything from solving a jigsaw puzzle to arranging furniture to efficiently packing a bag requires these abilities. Learn and practice these skills as you delve into the mathematical relationships between objects—ones that include congruence and symmetry, reflection and rotation, or expansion and contraction.

Do we have free will, or do our brains automatically respond to stimuli? What, if anything, distinguishes right from wrong? Philosophers relentlessly pursue fundamental questions of life, and their techniques apply to problems in any discipline. They establish standards of evidence, provide rational methods for resolving conflicts, and create templates for evaluating ideas and arguments. This course surveys several major areas of Western analytic philosophy: metaphysics and epistemology, ethics, and philosophies of mind, language, religion, and science.

Construct logical arguments as a proof to verify mathematical statements in this college-level course that follows Multivariable Calculus and builds upon Linear Algebra. Techniques and methods of proof are taught through specific examples in set theory, equivalence relations, and real analysis; the course also covers properties of functions, binary operations, and integers, among other topics. This course introduces the logical and rigorous mathematical foundation that all higher-level math classes require, so definitions and proofs will be stressed throughout the curriculum.

With the emergence of COVID-19, ethical issues in medicine have never been more pronounced in our social consciousness. Explore salient issues such as rationing scarce resources, making shutdown decisions for public health, and evaluating risk amid substantial uncertainty.

Develop your own critical reasoning skills, learning how to construct and analyze arguments while participating in debates and discussions around well-known philosophical dilemmas, and gain additional exposure to clinical ethics by deliberating real-world cases.

What creatures live around you, and how can you tell? How does gardening or mowing the lawn affect local animals and plants? What happens to bathtub water after it goes down the drain? Explore your neighborhood’s ecosystem through the lens of an environmental scientist.