Lab Studies

 

These courses are inquiry-based, real-world learning experiences that allow students to choose a broad area of interest, through which they focus on a specific topic or theme. Over the course of two semesters, students select from the following electives (Economics, Global Politics, Law & Justice, Culture & Media, Food & Society, Urban Studies) that culminate in group presentations and demonstrations of learning at the end of each semester on Project Exhibition Days.

 

 

Building on the ninth grade experience, students embark on a yearlong individual independent "March Madness" project of special interest to them, with the aim of taking their passion as far as they can, leading to the completion of a substantial piece of work that stands on its own.  Students are assessed on both their process and product and receive credit after presenting to the their peers and a faculty panel, followed by a symposium for the school community.

 

 

A two-year capstone course for eleventh and twelfth graders, the service learning program organizes students into service learning teams that enable them to identify an area of social action to which they are committed and to study the social, political, economic, and demographic factors that underlie the problem or need they wish to address through both their study and service. Students complete service at agencies and work sites throughout the city, after which, in their spring semester of senior year, they present their findings to the school community.