Summer: Early College Program

Download a Application Form (pdf) for the UNE Early College Program.

Applied Mathematics: “Applying Mathematics in the Physics Lab”

You may already know that mathematics and physics “make the world go around,” but here is your chance to prove it in the lab! This course combines mathematical exploration with experiences in both computer and physics laboratories. Discovery experiments in the physics lab involving circuits, springs, sound tubes and dynamics carts as examples of exponential decay, harmonic motion, acoustics, and Newtonian mechanics will be followed by mathematical analysis in the classroom.  Additional topics include geometry and mathematics of music.  Students will use mathematics software such as Maple and Geometer’s Sketchpad in the computer lab for further analysis and visualization of concepts.  

Psychology: “Neuroscience of Cognition:  Learning, Motivation and Emotion”

How do humans think? This course is a survey of the major topics in the biology of cognition, with an emphasis on learning, motivation and emotion.   Students will start by examining our current understanding of the mind/body connection.   From there we will focus on mechanisms of cognition from a variety of viewpoints, including behavioral phenomena, brain structures, neurotransmitter or hormonal systems and cellular mechanisms. Lecture and discussion will be supplemented with demonstrations and hands-on activities potentially including computer simulations, sheep-brain dissections and in-class experiments.

Writing: “Criticism: Context and Connoisseurs”

Get a jump on your writing skills while having some fun this summer!  Do you enjoy reading book, movie or restaurant reviews?  Have you ever wondered about your favorite novel or film’s contextual place in the ever-changing cultural zeitgeist?  During the morning classes in “Criticism: Context and Connoisseurs,” students will not only experience a wide range of art, but also the criticism that it inspired.  They will read works by Yale University’s Harold Bloom, Creem’s Lester Bangs, Rolling Stone’s David Fricke, Thomas Merton, Jonathan Franzen, and Walter Kerr, among others.  Students might enter the class already understanding what kinds of art touches them, but they will leave this course more fully able to explain in writing what they found so moving.
 
In the afternoon session of “Criticism: Context and Connoisseurs,” students will read compelling short works by the likes of Hemingway, E.B. White, and Jamaica Kincaid and craft their responses via comparative textual analysis.  To get to know these writers, we’ll play ‘Famous Writers Mad Libs’ and try out their voices ourselves.  By the end of the second week, students will create a college-level critical paper.  Competitions for the strongest introductions and time to test ideas against an audience of your peers will offer opportunities for revision.  The process of making such a paper, start to finish, is great practice for the real thing.

History: “Rebels and Radicals in the Twentieth Century”

This course surveys the biographies of fascinating political and cultural rebels as windows into modern U.S. history.  We begin by asking what characteristics mark someone as a rebel or as a radical, paying close attention to how issues of class, race, gender and sexuality at times have informed politics and culture. Students will then proceed to choose one or two historical figures to investigate with the goal of presenting their findings to the class.  Expect some controversial discussions to take place as we explore the lives of colorful figures who made their mark on history!