Immersive
1
Exhibition Friday, May 14, 2021 10 a.m. – noon 1 – 3 p.m.
Dear Students, Families & Friends, The Bay School students have been steeped in their Immersive courses for the last three weeks. The Immersive term culminates in an exhibition, normally an in-person community event that allows students to showcase their learning to a broad audience. This year, Exhibition will be virtual and we hope that parents, guardians, friends and supporters will join us to celebrate and enjoy their own and other students’ work. This program contains brief descriptions of Immersive courses and their exhibition plans. Details about each course’s exhibition time and specific student presenters can be found on the Schedule of Events, a live document that may be updated until Exhibition begins. Student details and links can be found in the “Student Schedules” tab at the bottom of the sheet. Please note that “Zoom rooms” have a capacity of 100 people; the “waiting room” feature will be enabled, and teachers will monitor the addition of visitors throughout the session. We welcome you virtually to Immersive 1 exhibition and thank you for joining us! Enjoy!
9th Grade ASSEMBLING SAN FRANCSICO: GEOLOGY OF THE GREATER BAY REGION This is a field-based physical geology course in which students explore the rocks, hills, and waters of the greater San Francisco area. A principal goal is to build students’ confidence and competence in their observational skills and to help them get a sense of how to ground themselves in the literal context required for scientific research. EXHIBITION Students in this course invite you to view their presentations on all things geologic: from the history of Hawaii, the Alps, and Yellowstone to an exploration of transform faults, salt, fossils, and Earth’s layers. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A.
THE BIOLOGY OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS How can we use current biological research to understand how to build a happy and healthy lifestyle? This course introduces students to the biology of the human body, with a focus on how exercise, nutrition, sleep, and stress affect biological processes. EXHIBITION Based on research and experimental results, students will present best practices for food choices, sleep patterns, activity requirements, and daily habits that optimize biological functioning.
CALIFORNIA NATURAL HISTORY California is a biodiversity hotspot, one of a number of places on the planet supporting particularly high numbers of species that are not found anywhere else in the world. This course introduces students to the science of ecology and methods of quantifying ecosystem services, with a goal of inspiring stewardship of California’s natural communities. EXHIBITION Students invite you to view their original nature documentaries. Each film focuses on California’s ecosystem, the climate, and human impacts on said ecosystem. Presentations will be followed by a student-hosted Q&A. The video links will also be provided for asynchronous viewing.
DESIGN 1A Every human-made object we interact with on a daily basis—from phones to cars to furniture to buildings—has been intentionally designed by a person or a team. Using the “design thinking” methodology, students in this course design and produce projects that challenge them to solve specific goals. EXHIBITION Students in this course will present physical models for each of the three projects tackled during this course. Students will describe their models, as well as discuss the successes and obstacles they encountered during the design process.
THE GEOMETRY OF ISLAMIC ART This Immersive explores the artistic traditions that emerged in Islamic art with the absence of figural representations. Students study constructions, symmetry, and tiling groups to better understand the ways that geometry can be used to create works of art, and the ways in which art can help us better understand and illuminate geometrical relationships. EXHIBITION Students in this course invite you to presentations on Islamic culture and history, as well as on the technical geometric terms studied in this course. The demonstration of constructing a pattern will leave you wanting to pick up a pencil and paper!
THE MATHEMATICS OF DIGITAL ANIMATION: PIXAR MOVIES BEHIND THE SCENES How can mathematics help us to model characteristics and phenomena we observe (or imagine)? Using Pixar films as a starting point, students learn about the stages of the digital animation process, from character development to fine-tuning the details. EXHIBITION Following a video of the students’ unique character models, students will each highlight a particular aspect of digital animation, including lighting, effects, character modeling, and more!
10th Grade HUMANITIES 2: SHAKESPEARE UNBOUND This 10th-grade core Humanities immersive seeks to answer this essential question: “Why do we still read Shakespeare?” Steeped in Shakespeare’s language and style, students examine various adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, from classic, true-to-the-original interpretations to those loose adaptations that permeate contemporary pop culture. EXHIBITION Students will share some aspect of either their individual or collective work on The Tempest, Othello, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Each pair or group of students will be available for 5-7 minutes via Zoom to share videos or images of their work, discuss directing and design vision, and answer questions from audience members.
11th–12th Grades APPLIED CHEMISTRY: BETTER COOKING THROUGH CHEMISTRY In this course, students step into a laboratory-kitchen to explore the scientific principles underpinning a variety of dishes, including exploring thermal energy transfer in ice cream, identifying the intermolecular forces involved in the creation of emulsions and infusions, marveling at the complex chemical reactions underlying cheese-making and egg dishes, to investigating the role of solubility in preparing candy. EXHIBITION Students in this course invite you to a live cooking demonstration during which they will prepare a dish, walk you through the cooking process, and explain the science behind the dish!
ASTRONOMY Students in this course use telescopes around the world to search for exoplanets, to find the behavior of variable stars, to measure the height of a mountain on the moon, and more. Students use archival data, measure the behavior of the sun and moon over the course of three weeks, and discover that science is both hard and rewarding. EXHIBITION Students in this course will present their research projects and posters individually via Zoom.
BUDDHISM The essence of Buddhism is to awaken, to be free in the midst of this changing world. Buddhism has a long and rich history from ancient India to the Bay Area. Students in this course study that history with an emphasis on how Buddhism has impacted the West, revolutionizing disciplines from neuroscience and psychology to education. EXHIBITION Students in this course invite you to student-led lessons during which they will help their audience understand and experience one of the Ten Grave Precepts. Students will also present an overview of the Buddhist conceptions of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and virtue, as well as read a few parables.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE This immersive introduces students to theoretical and historical foundations of environmental racism and inequity. Students in this course investigate the nuanced relationship between power and inequality, uncovering how they influence each other and impact different stakeholders. As a result of this course, students will become empowered to educate and engage their peers, take meaningful action, and advocate for locally burdened communities. EXHIBITION Students in this course are excited to share with you final projects that delve into a broad array of environmental justice issues. Topics range from Bayview Hunters Point, to Hurricane Katrina, to water shortages in South Africa, and more.
FUTURES PAST AND PRESENT How did people in the past imagine the future? This class explores the history of the future through literature and film; examines the connections that link technologies like the wine press, loom, printed book, and computer; and engages in the process of “strategic foresight” to make our own predictions about the year 2054 and beyond. EXHIBITION During the first presentation block, students in this course invite you to join their groups via Zoom where they will discuss their final projects, share predictions, and answer questions. During the second presentation block, the class will perform a time capsule closing ceremony.
HIP HOP CULTURE, POLITICS AND PRODUCTION How should the story of Hip Hop be conveyed and remembered? In order to be culturally literate, it is important to understand our society’s musical forms of expression and how they help to tell the American story. This course delves into the historical context of Hip Hop by examining The Great Migration, The Harlem Renaissance, Jamaica and the evolution of Dub music, and the socio-economic conditions of the South Bronx. EXHIBITION The culminating experience of this course is a collaborative song that incorporates the historical context, four elements of Hip Hop, and the production skills students acquired in this course. Students in this course invite you to their live performances via Zoom.
IMMERSIVE ART STUDIO What is it like to live the day-to-day life of an artist, working feverishly in one’s own studio, gradually assembling a body of artwork for a gallery exhibition? Rather than placing emphasis on the “how-to”, this advanced studio course encourages students to dig deeply into one’s own art experimenting, refining, assessing, reworking, and then fine-tuning - while working gradually towards a culminating exhibition. EXHIBITION The artists in this course invite you to a viewing of a video compilation of their final art installations. Join the class via Zoom to watch the video, followed by a Q&A with the artists.
THE MODERN AMERICAN FAMILY How do various representations of family structures/dynamics help us understand our own definition of family and our role in it? This course examines different family structures and dynamics through American visual art, literature, television, film, and various forms of nonfiction. Exposure to the different interpretations of family encourages students to understand their own family makeup and their place in it. EXHIBITION Students in this course invite you to group presentations that each examine a different thread of the course, followed by a Q&A session in breakout rooms. Presentations will take place via Zoom.
NEGOTIATION, LEGISLATION, AND DIPLOMACY This course teaches students basic negotiation and policy-making skills, which they apply in simulations of real-world national and international issues. Students in this course learn to draft policy papers, debate, cooperate, legislate, and broker compromise to reach solutions on a range of issues on which they develop expertise. EXHIBITION Students in this course welcome visitors to join presentations on one of three topics: Negotiation, Legislation, or Diplomacy. During the presentations, students will share their individual portfolios, drawing on reflections from their work.
POVERTY AND JUSTICE Why are some people wealthy while others are homeless? What can be done to solve the homelessness crisis? Focusing on homelessness (or houselessness) in the Bay Area as a case study, students become more familiar with the economic and social structures that exacerbate an increasingly dramatic gap between rich and poor. Students reflect on their own relationship to economic class and explore strategies that individuals and communities have used to address the issue of homelessness/houselessness. EXHIBITION Students in this course invite you to view a documentary film that tracks the group’s partnership with St. Anthony’s in running a hygiene drive. Following the film, students invite audience participation in a Q&A session to discuss the impact of the drive and what they have learned about poverty in the Bay Area.
THERE, HERE: THE PROBLEM OF PLACE IN NATIVE LITERATURE “There is no there there,” Gertrude Stein wrote of her native Oakland, CA. Nearly a century later, Oakland-based author Tommy Orange illustrates one of Oakland’s many “theres” in his brilliantly narrated saga of the urban American Indian experience. Taking Orange’s novel There There as its central text, this course expands into an exploration of indigenous history, culture, and representation. Along the way, students map their findings: what theres have you stumbled upon now that you’re here? EXHIBITION Students invite you to tour collaboratively created “maps” of their three-week immersive experiences. Presentations will run approximately 15 minutes, followed by time for questions and discussion.
THE WRITER’S LIFE: A CREATIVE EXPLORATION What do real writers compose, and how might we learn about and produce work in those genres as well? This course focuses on deep dives into writing: students who love to write will spend their time reading works by a range of authors, learning specific tools to give their writing stylistic flourish, taking each piece through multiple drafts, and developing polished pieces that are ready for publication. EXHIBITION Students in this course invite you to a Fiction and Poetry Festival! Students will share their creative work either live or prerecorded through Zoom.
Thank you for joining us!