Course Listings | Junior Program

Ever wanted to create something impressive with your hands? This is your chance to create sculptures of all sorts. Different subjects, different kinds of materials . . . there is no limit to what you can do with imagination and hard work. Have you ever thought of making a sculpture out of candy? We’ll learn about a sculptor who did just that. As we experiment with clay, wire, fabric, wood, knickknacks, thingamabobbers, and whatchamacallits, we’ll create a variety of sculptures for all of Explo to enjoy! So grab your imagination and start thinking in 3-D . . . it’s time to CREATE!

What are your favorite websites? Ever wonder how those sites are created? Now you can learn to make your own website! In this course, you’ll create a webpage about all the great things you do at Explo, then you’ll share it with the world so they can see what you’ve been up to. We’ll learn how to include pictures, colors, text, links to other web pages, and even some basic animation! Come join us as we put Explo on the web for the world to see!

Students will not be enrolled in both #603 and W158.

Have you ever wondered if someone was lying to you? Are you absolutely, positively sure you could describe your friends from school last year or even someone you saw yesterday? We will explore these questions and more by becoming members of a courtroom. We’ll see just how reliable eyewitnesses really are, dig deep into lawyers’ tricks and techniques, learn how a lawyer can legally prevent evidence from reaching the jury, and ponder what a jury does behind closed doors. Get ready to judge and be judged—whether you are a witness, jury member, lawyer, defendant, plaintiff, or judge. If you like action, excitement, and suspense, this course is for you!

Extra! Extra! Write all about it! Put on your detective cap and step into the shoes of an ace reporter as we find the hot scoop for our very own newspaper! You’ll search for exciting new stories, chase down clues and facts, and interview experts and witnesses. After you’ve got the who, what, when, where, and why, you and the Explo news team will separate facts from opinions and write your own articles. You’ll create an Explo newspaper that will be informative, entertaining, and most of all, fun! So come put on your sleuth hat and get ready to work in the newsroom!

You have been invited to join a team of scientists and engineers at the International Science Olympiad (ISO). Working in teams, you will be presented with a series of scientific and engineering challenges. For example, in last year’s competition, teams were challenged to design and build an underwater craft that could submerge to the bottom of the ocean floor, stay there for sixty seconds, and, under its own power, return to the surface without an engine. Currently, the ISO Board is creating all new challenges for 2010. Do you have what it takes? Join us as we get ready to go for the gold.

Do you wish that were you out there—in the ponds, the forest, the streams, and the trails—so close to the wildlife that you could reach out and grab it? Join us in this course, and for three weeks, we will conduct a hands-on exploration of our local environment: watching, smelling, feeling, and listening to the lifeforms on the St. Mark’s campus. We’ll map the local water cycle. We’ll take hikes in the forests and fields. We’ll collect soil samples and examine them for pollutants. And we’ll track a variety of species—frogs, dragonflies, fish, and more—collecting data on their local habitat. Ecology . . . it’s not science like you’re used to. It’s wet, it’s slimy, it’s dirty. It’s science you can touch.

An arrow shoots into your knee – agh! You lose your balance – yelp! – and fall down a flight of stairs – gah! Your arm gets severed – ahh! – by an electric saw! Playing with special effects may seem dangerous, but in this class, you’ll learn how easy, fun, (and safe) it is to fool audiences into believing the most extraordinary effects. You’ll smash your fist through a pane of glass (made of sugar and tap water), use make-up and prosthetics to create broken noses and scars, and replicate tornados and thunderstorms with garden hoses and leaf blowers. In this kind of theater, breaking a leg has never been so much fun!

Students will not be enrolled in both #613 and W123.

What’s another name for a cucumber-eating turtle-monkey? Kappa, of course. And what about an oni—what’s that? A billy-club toting, underworld-guarding demon, duh. And a tanuki? It’s a shape-shifting raccoon-dog. Japanese stories are full of these mythical, mysterious, and mischievous characters. They steal food and trick humans, but also teach mankind and save us in times of crisis. Join us as we learn about these characters and bring them to life as giant Japanese-style puppets. You’ll create enormous puppet dragons that do the bidding of evil puppet princes or a puppet Momotaro (the boy born inside a peach) that slays puppet ghosts and demons. These are classic, centuries-old tales—but now that you’re pulling the strings, you get to decide how they end!

There you are at the Grand Canyon. You whip out your camera, snap a few shots of this impressive view and think, “These will turn out great!” Or you try to take a great portrait of a friend and you think that you have captured her soul. Then you get your film back and… blech! The pictures look nothing like the beautiful view you remember. Join us and learn how to take great photos. Naturally, you will learn how to develop your own film and make prints. What makes a great picture? Impress friends and family with a group of prints that you made from start to finish! Move over Ansel Adams!
No photo experience necessary, but you will need a 35mm camera (no disposable or digital cameras). Students will not be enrolled in both #701 and #801.

You are part of a special team that has been brought together to build the greatest island nation the world has ever seen: I.S.E. (the Island States of Explantis). We must work together to design and construct the islands making up our country. What shape will the islands take? Do we want bridges? Houses? How about a movie theater or an airport? Where will citizens get their food? So many people want to live in our new country that we’ve got to design and supervise construction as soon as possible. You’ll have to be resourceful because supplies are limited and time is running out! Get ready to learn on the job. We’ve got a country to get running!
Students will not be enrolled in both #703 and #803.


All of us can brush some color onto the canvas . . . but here’s your chance to turn globs of paint into works of art. We’ll work with acrylics, tempera, and watercolors to learn the techniques professional artists use to create masterpieces. As you paint your own landscapes and portraits, you’ll discover how to use warm and cold colors to make some sections of your paintings jump out and others fall back and disappear. We’ll experiment with a variety of painting techniques and teach you to mix your own palette. So grab your smock and a canvas and get ready to paint like a real artist!
Students will not be enrolled in both #805 and W182.

Yeeeeeeeehhhaaaaaaa! Do you love amusement park rides? Do you have what it takes to design a roller coaster? How many twists? How many turns? Come and learn about the basic effects of gravity, positive and negative Gs, inertia, mass, and speed as we design our own amusement park rides. We’ll use Legos, gears, and motors—along with everyday materials like toothpicks, tape, and marbles—to test our ideas and create bumper cars, roller coasters, and other thrill rides that twist, spin, and twirl. Buckle up! This is going to be one wild ride!

Students will not be enrolled in both #707 and #807.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to build something out of wood? Well, here is your chance to do it safely! We will build a variety of projects you will be proud of, while learning how to measure, score, cut, join and finish. From the rough plan to the final sand, you will learn how to use a range of tools such as drill presses, saws, and hammers. Learn the basics of woodworking while constructing things like birdhouses, toolboxes, or maybe even a working clock! No woodworking experience necessary.

Use your pinky to keep someone from standing. Read minds to predict the names of distant relatives. Perform supernatural feats like flying and bringing dead insects back to life. If it sounds too fantastic to be believed, that’s because it is… it’s magic. You’ll bring cards to the top of the deck and make coins jump, bend, and disappear. We’ll also practice the craft of the magician—concealing smaller movements with big ones, employing, even developing an on-stage routine of ‘patter’ and jokes that will confuse, confound, and captivate your audience. If you want to become the world’s next David Blaine or David Copperfield, then this is the course you’ll want to have up your sleeve.

Congratulations, you have been accepted to the Secret Service. Your first assignment: protect the President of the United States of America. Explo’s State of the Union Address is only days away, so your work begins immediately. You’ll diagram the Junior Program’s Quad and set up surveillance stations. You’ll practice using your body to deflect flying projectiles. You’ll learn how to detect a lie and how to spot suspicious behavior in a crowd. You’ll build prototypes of impenetrable security systems that will trigger alarms if anyone tries to break in. And you’ll develop contingency plans for evacuation in the case of unforeseen developments. It’s your mission—so prepare a slick code name, find a pair of dark sunglasses, and get ready to protect the leaders of Explo and the free world!

Holding the weight of a bowling ball with a box of toothpicks – it sounds like an architectural impossibility, but it’s not. Using the principles of engineering, we’ll create incredible structures out of the feeblest and frailest materials around. You’ll use straws and shaving cream to build ten-foot towers and marshmallows and spaghetti to construct a fortress able to withstand a battering banana-ram. You’ll construct truss bridges out of newspaper that will not only span a four-foot river but also withstand the weight of a human being. From suspension bridges made out of paper tubes and dental floss to geodesic domes made out of tissue paper, we’ll learn how to carry amazing weight and push the principles of physics to the limits.

Are you someone who likes to speak in front of lots of people? Or are you the shy type that stays seated in the back? Come learn how to express yourself in a calm, confident way and how to argue thoughtfully and effectively. First, we’ll practice speaking in front of groups and learn how to stay calm, cool, and collected. Then we’ll move on to debate, where we’ll learn how to organize our thoughts, present a coherent argument, and follow the basic procedures of parliamentary debate. Don’t just sit there, stand up and speak!

Have you ever wanted to mix different liquids and powders in your kitchen just to see what happens? There is chemistry everywhere around you and it’s easy to make things from simple materials at home. Would you like to learn how to make slime or glue? We can harness chemical power to make safe mini-explosions. Have you ever wondered how to make gum or root beer? We will get to see how chemistry relates to food, while making things to eat and drink. Whether in the outside world or in our stomachs, we will have fun with the chemistry we see every day!
Students will not be enrolled concurrently in #719, #819, and W183.

You receive a call in the middle of the night. A series of crimes has been committed and Interpol needs your help. This is a complicated case because all of the crimes have happened in different countries. You will learn techniques of strategic criminal intelligence analysis and some basic crime lab skills. Will you be able to trace a bit of broken glass to its source? Can you analyze ink to determine the author of a piece of writing left behind at the scene? You will be questioning suspects, determining motives, and listening to alibis. You must act as both forensic scientist and international detective to catch the criminal (or criminals). Accept this case. The world needs your help to fight international crime!
Students will not be enrolled in both #822 and #722.

Testing the limits of science. . . defying the laws of gravity. . . it’s all in a day’s work for the average hovercraft scientist. Join us as we learn and apply Newton’s Laws of Motion and Bernoulli’s Principle on pressure and lift to create a fleet of hovercrafts that really fly, float, and scoot across the landscape. We’ll create hovercrafts for every occasion: small tabletop models that could fit in your bag, large ones big enough to ride and race on—and an absolutely humongous one that we’ll knock around in a life-size game of (inverted) air hockey. Sound too good to be true? Trust us. This is a class that will sweep you off your feet!

Are you interested in learning more about American culture? If so, join us on an exciting journey into life in the United States. We will have fun exploring American art, food, music, and fashion—both in the classroom and on the road—as we take field trips to local areas of interest. Plus, we will work on our English language skills while playing lots of games! So get on board, the ESOL train is departing!