Camp 4 Academic Program

In this course, students will discover how scientists create and share information with the world and learn essential skills like finding, accessing, and critically evaluating scientific research. Ever wondered if that news story claiming chocolate is good for you is accurate? We will tackle questions like these by going back to the original research articles. Along the way this course will uncover how information can be distorted as it moves from scientific studies to eye-catching headlines. We’ll explore topics like bias, misinformation and why some people doubt science.

In this course, students will study how people make decisions, from simple everyday choices to big life decisions. We’ll look at how our brains work when we decide things, starting with how we judge the things that happen around us and even our own feelings. Instead of diving into every possible aspect of decision-making, we’ll focus on three main areas: how we learn and remember things, how our emotions affect our choices, and how our brains process information. By studying these aspects, we aim to better understand why we make the choices we do.

In this course students will not only hone skills that will allow them to better locate appropriate material, but they will also learn how to closely examine the material they find, against a larger backdrop, in order to decide where and how to place it within their research process.

Examining controversial topics through various lenses, including social media, this class will narrow down broad topics, find and select from both “authoritative” and questionable information sources and decide on how to put sources in concert with one another in order to provide, identify, examine, interrogate and reframe popular myths and misinformation on controversial topics.

To achieve this, the class will utilize readings, podcasts, documentaries, discussions and information searching activities; and consider a variety of perspectives, performances and representations that are both traditional and non-traditional in order to critically analyze and provide a useful, holistic, and nuanced presentation on a selected myth. While we may have to navigate through highly biased content on a daily basis, it's our responsibility to strive to do better when we put information back out.

This course explores the life of Malcolm X as a way to understand race, identity, and social change in the United States. Students will study key moments in the Civil Rights era, trace the development of Malcolm X’s philosophies, challenge dominant narratives about those philosophies, and examine broader struggles for justice and equality. By connecting past movements to contemporary issues, students will also gain a deeper understanding of how history shapes present-day America. Using primary sources, autobiographical writing, film and scholarly works, we will engage in thoughtful discussion and analytical writing about key events in U.S. history.

This course will examine natural disasters in the United States and the uneven responses by the government and relief organizations — that would indicate that disasters disproportionately affect residents based on race and class.

Topics include: How do communities respond to a disaster? Does a disaster equally affect everyone? Do race, ethnicity, class, and gender, make people vulnerable to impacts of disasters? How do organizations respond to disasters? Why do they fail? How does a disaster become a political event?  How do people perceive and respond to potential risks of disasters? Do disasters “bring out the best in humans?” Topics will be explored through readings (books, news articles and journal articles), photograph study and film study.

Not just an “eat popcorn and watch movie” course! The goal of this course is to learn American History through watching movies. We will watch three films during the session, each film is directly related to some aspect of the Vietnam War. The class work will be divided into three different areas. The first area will be the introduction, where we will study the historical background of the film. This can include the time the film portrays as well as the time the film was made. The second area will be the actual watching of the movie with discussion throughout. The third and final area will be the post work which may include film analysis, discussion questions, debates, film reviews and a short essay.

The focus of this course will be the effects of drugs of abuse on brain function and behavior. Several drugs will be discussed including marijuana, opiates, alcohol, and caffeine. Specifically, you will learn about the drugs’ site of action, mechanism of action, effects on brain chemistry and effects on behavior. Through these discussions, you will come to learn about the normal function and structure of the brain and the long-term effects of drug abuse on this important organ. In addition, the course will include a short laboratory experiment demonstrating some of the principles discussed in the lecture. In short, this course will provide you with a basic understanding of addiction, drugs of abuse and the effects of the drugs on the brain.

This course will introduce the theory behind concepts covered in the first year of the Kenyon physics curriculum and will enable the performance of experiments in those areas. Topics will include kinematics, dynamics, impulse and momentum, work and energy, electricity, circuits, atomic physics and nuclear physics. The course will be taught using a combination of lectures, labs, in-class exercises, homework assignments and examinations. Seven full (3-hour) labs will be performed along with supporting activities. Lectures cover the theory and instrumentation required to understand each experiment. Students will continue to develop skills in computer assisted graphical and statistical analysis of data. The final exam will be an in-lab exam similar to those performed during the Kenyon academic year. Knowledge of calculus is not required.

This course will examine the brain physiology of stress and sleep, the impact of these systems on everyday human behaviors and functions, and the impact of everyday human behaviors on sleep and stress. Sleep and stress interactions with physiological systems relevant to physical and mental health will be studied. This course is designed for first year students: some emphasis will be placed on discussing the neuroscience of current research on stress management, sleep interventions, study techniques and other issues affecting and affected by college life. Student projects will include reflective engagement on the course topics and the development of techniques to apply what is learned.

This is an introductory lecture and discussion course in the history of Blacks in the United States in the modern era. Topics will include the tragedies and triumphs of Reconstruction, interracial violence, black political and institutional responses to racism and violence, and the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Students will be presented with a variety of primary and secondary sources materials; timely and careful reading of these sources will prepare students for class discussions. Students will be confronted with conflicting bodies of evidence and challenged to analyze these issues and arrive at conclusions for themselves. Memoirs and films will supplement classroom lectures and discussions.

Ethics and the Environment explores the moral, social and cultural issues arising from human interaction with the natural environment. At the outset, the course will address questions about religion’s relationship to environmental problems and explore some perspectives on the approaches to human responsibility for ethical treatment of nature. The course will then turn to a consideration of various issues that frame debates about environmental issues: depletion of resources, population growth, food ethics, species extinction, pollution, climate change and environmental activism. The course prioritizes critical reading and intensive discussions. An assigned text, linked articles and audio-visuals will enable exploration of the topic.

Are there good reasons for believing in immaterial things, like gods and souls? Do human beings have free will, or are their decisions determined by their brain chemistry, their families, or their surrounding culture? Should we kill non-human animals for food, if they can look forward to things and feel pain? Can computers think? Does technology liberate us or control us? When do you know that you are in love? 

Students in this Camp 4 class will read a selection of classic and contemporary texts from the leading lights of the Western philosophical canon. Authors will include: Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Mill, Marx, James, Du Bois, Arendt, Davis and Anderson, among many others. In class, we will critically examine their ideas, raise our own objections, and begin to learn how to formulate our own philosophies in clearly structured essays. In order to succeed in this course, students must be interested in reading dense texts, speaking in class, listening to other people and writing and revising short papers.