Each week this fall, 330 academically talented students do the unthinkable on a Saturday morning: they choose to go to school. Instead of staying home for the typical fare of Saturday morning cartoons, these children head to Northwestern University to take advantage of the courses offered by the Center for Talent Development's (CTD) Saturday Enrichment Program (SEP). Though they may lose an hour with the Power Rangers, the payoff for the time these students invest can be great. After all, how many students know what it's like to plan an election campaign? How many have designed a water filtration system, executed a self-portrait in the style of the Cubists, or pondered the great philosophical questions posed by Plato and Aristotle? Through SEP, students have the opportunity to go beyond what is taught in their regular classrooms, tackling science, math, humanities, and the arts through challenging projects and enriching hands-on activities.

Diverse Studies, Contemporary Focus

Students enrolling in the current session of SEP find a diverse range of courses from which to choose. This session, two of the most popular courses were "Hail to the Chief" and "Road to the White House." In these courses, students from 2nd through 5th grades studied the current presidential election, from its selection of candidates to the election of our nation's leader on November 5. While traveling the "Road to the White House," students learned about campaign techniques, designed campaign buttons, studied the presidential debates, explored and discussed lead campaign issues, and analyzed the outcome of this year's election. Students have an opportunity to follow up on the topics covered in this course in a new course offered this winter, "Working in Washington."

Students interested in science and math have a number of options for study in SEP. First and second graders learn about circuits, batteries, and electricity in "Electrical Explorations." The world around us becomes a scientific laboratory for students in "Science Explorations," while in "Science Phenomena," students take a look at the world of water. In "Phun of Physics," the phenomena of everyday life are analyzed to reveal how the laws of physics lay the foundation for all our experiences. Students who like mathematics learn to investigate, calculate, and estimate in "Math on Ice," while other students learn about "Patterns in Math." Older students take on more advanced math studies in "Probability and Statistics," "Hands-on Geometry" and "Mathematical Connections: Pre-Algebra."

SEP also offers an outlet for budding writers and artists. From "Writers' Workshop" to "Publisher's Workshop" to "Creative Writing: Poetry," students with a literary bent get to try their hands at writing stories, plays, and poems and share their works with other students. Students who like to draw and paint find that "Introduction to the World of Art" allows them to learn these techniques within the larger context of the works of famous artists. In this course, students learn about and emulate artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh, Klee, Matisse, and Seurat. For those who like to combine words and pictures, an innovative new course, "Narrating with Text and Image," provides an opportunity to explore how different modes of representation can be combined to create a single impression. Using photos, collages, comic strips, scrap books, and print ads, students in the class learn how pictures can make a story. In "Let's Put on a Play!," students do just that collaborate on all aspects of theatrical production in preparation for a performance on the last day of class.

Courses for Credit

Learning Opportunities for Parents

Seminar topics included:

• Discipline, family interaction, and communication patterns
• How to recognize signs of distress and when to be concerned
• How to maintain a balance between individuality and close family relationships
  

Expanding Horizons