2009 COURSES

The courses allow children with exceptional intellectual ability to extend their existing
fund of knowledge through first-hand experimentation and creative experiences.
 

4 years old and entering K 
BUGGY BEETLES

Beetles have been on the Earth for about 230 million years, and they are the largest group of insects in the world! They come in all shapes and sizes, but the cutest beetles of all are ladybugs! They are red, yellow, or orange with black polka dots and bring good luck! They flap their wings 85 times per second and eat 1, 000 smaller insects in their lifetime! Observe ladybugs metamorphose from eggs to adults in our week together! Count and graph their dots as they hatch. Role play their life cycle. Watch them play dead. Explore their bodies. Make them a cozy leaf lodge. Create your own beetle. No grouchy ladybugs allowed!

Entering K and 1st
BAY BOUNTY

Can you name the body of water that is 200 miles in length, up to 30 miles wide and located in our very own backyard? Why, yes, it’s The Chesapeake Bay! Delve into the largest estuary in the United States, home to more blue crabs than anywhere in the world! Explore the shoreline, shallow and open water. Create a mural to illustrate the habitat for crabs, oysters, clams, menhaden and many other creatures. Take a virtual tour of Bayville. Investigate to learn the bay’s importance to Maryland residents. How do our actions impact the bay? Become a bay expert in just one week and you’ll be bay-bound for sure!
 

Entering 1st and 2nd grades
AWESOME ARCTICS

What is so awesome about the Arctic and Antarctica? A lot! Which one is the fifth largest continent? Which one is a part of the country of Greenland, but there is no green land? Which one is the only place polar bears live? Which one has no humans living on it? Trek through these intriguing poles at each end of the Earth. Discover the Baleen and Tooth whales, Polar bears and the Adelie and Gentoo penguins. How do they survive in frosty conditions? Discover the beauty of the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis in the polar night skies. Create your own ice house and get hot about global warming!
 

Entering 2nd and 3rd grades
WILD WEATHER

Wild weather is all around us! There are about 2,000 thunderstorms in the world every minute! Lightning strikes 6,000 different spots on Earth every minute! But some weather is wickedly wild like tsunamis that move almost 500 miles per hour and hurricanes that can be 160 miles per hour and produce almost 2 and a half trillion gallons of rain! Find out how typhoons and cyclones are related to hurricanes. Become a meteorologist and create your own tornado and lightning. Learn about barometric pressure, Saffir-Simpson, and Wet Wragge and how to be safe in wild weather.
 

Entering 3rd and 4th grades
MATTER MATTER?

From the smallest subatomic particle to the vast dark matter in outer space, everything matters! Be a scientist and explore the wonderful mysteries of matter in all of its phases: liquids, gases, solids and even plasma. How do astronauts make a liquid magnetic? How can you blow up a balloon without touching it? Why does a buckyball look like a soccer ball? What are the properties of this type of atom that makes it so strong that it can be used to make armor? Make three dimensional models of different types of atoms with neutrons, protons, and electrons. Finding out “what’s the matter” will never be more exciting!
 

Entering 4th and 5th grades
GMO GENOMES

Do you eat foods that contain GMO’s? Are they good or bad for you? What is a GFP? Learn about the ABCs of GMOs and how genes are cloned. Learn how these foods are made with the help of Bacillus thuringiensis. Find out what proteins, base pairs, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a gene gun, Green Fluorescent Protein and resistance markers have to do with corn, soy, papaya, and even French fries. (That was a mouthful!) Use biotechnological techniques including PCR reactions, DNA extraction, electrophoresis, and gel analysis to study foods for the presence of GMOs. Explore the controversy surrounding the use of GMOs and whether they are harmful to humans, animals or plants.