Interdisciplinary, Deep Learning: The Unique High School Curriculum
Grade 9-12 Courses at the Intersections
In the Upper Grades, we continue to find connections across disciplines. Our courses include Salt, Ethics and Policy, Theatre of the World, Equality, Food, Thought, among many other innovative and intriguing courses. Each course is honors level and interdisciplinary, and students learn all of the disciplines (algebra, chemistry, biology, physics, literature, composition, history, and so on) through the unique and interesting non-siloed course lens.
Each of our non-siloed courses is designed around benchmarks for in-depth study, with students learning through reading, writing, discussion, collaboration, problem solving, and projects. Course titles include Thought, Food, Reflection, Methods of Study within Scholar Projects, Water, Complexity and Unintended Consequences, Theatre of the World, Equality, Salt, Sugar, Print, Journeys, Design and Engineering, Ethics and Policy, The Body Puzzle, Frontiers and Borders, Light and Sound, among many others.
Through these interdisciplinary courses, Slate School students are enlivened and challenged. They far exceed the typical expectations of high school through the authentic, applicable, and multidisciplinary understandings. Each course culminates with a project that identifies problems and develops ideas for solutions. Our students are “solutionaries;” They apply their learning to create real solutions to real issues.
In addition to their courses, each student designs and pursues independent projects and research studies. Many of these students pursue their projects in the Idea Lab space of the Upper School.
Foundation and Application Courses work together to create a balanced, purposeful education. Foundation courses alone may provide ability without direction. Application courses alone may spark questions without the tools to pursue answers. Together, these courses ensure students gain essential capacities and apply them to big questions and ideas. In practice, students combine foundation and application to tackle real-world challenges.
Several Grade 9-12 Course Descriptions
Water: Water is the resource that runs the world. There is nothing more essential, and few things more complex. Our work will grow from an explicit understanding of the science of water, the mathematics of its scarcity and abundance, and how it has influenced and been influenced by the development of human civilizations.
Journeys: Experience important stories shared across time to explore their relevance to our lives today. Tales of immigration, conflict, injustice, heroism, and innovation, travel through books, oral history, art, music, and primary sources to help us understand where we come from and where we're going.
Salt: Salt is essential and omnipresent. NaCl’s crystals are translucent, its uses are myriad, and its availability has been critical to civilization. Salt holds an important place in religious rituals worldwide. Explore salt chemistry to understand the commonalities and differences between the widely-known and edible table salt (NaCl) and the myriad of other inorganic salts.
Sugar: Explore sugar from discovery to current day. How has sugar’s reputation through history evolved, and what power dynamics have been involved? Explore sugar production, the chemistry of sugar, and the processing of sugars by the body.
The Body Puzzle: The body is an interconnected and interdependent web of complex systems. The historical and philosophical explorations of the human body offer an understanding for all of the science that we've learned from and about the body, and all that remains unknown and unanswered. How do we critically think about the body's systems, while maintaining humility in not knowing everything about how the body works?
Complexity and Unintended Consequences: The problems of our world are complex and interconnected. How do we respond to these challenges with the greatest foresight? Where does the balance lie between quick and decisive action and steady and contemplative response? Apply models of problem solving from the diversity of thought around the globe to find your personal answers to these questions.
Thought: The brain's storage capacity is considered virtually unlimited, so it should not be surprising that it is the source of great innovation, spectacular failure, immense creativity, and madness. Dig into this most complex topic to consider the ideas of history's greatest minds and the remarkable science of this unique organ.
Food: Join in the contemplation of a topic that brings biology, anthropology, chemistry, economics, evolution, physics, agriculture, politics, and religion to the table.
Moving Beyond APs
The movement for high schools to provide AP courses began in the 1950s. Today, there is a growing trend away from AP courses in schools. Educators and learners alike have recognized that these courses offer much less than they promise. Longstanding institutions such as Choate, Andover, Exeter, Milton Academy, Sidwell Friends, Riverdale, among many others, have abandoned AP offerings. They cite a significant preference to have their faculty lead the direction for each course, as opposed to teaching a boxed curriculum with the sole learning achievement watered down to a score on a multiple choice test. Colleges no longer seek numbers of AP courses taken or AP scores, but rather universities are seeking students with intellectual curiosity and rigor that goes well beyond preparation for a multiple choice test.
All of Slate School’s courses offer opportunities for advanced learning. The typical Slate School class is modeled on the way we access and use knowledge in the real world. All classes are interdisciplinary, allowing students to engage fluently and fluidly in important skills of writing, effective communication, problem solving, collaboration, flexibility, critical thought, and scientific inquiry.
