IS4GT Online Descriptions
June 22-26, 2020
Intensive Study in Creating Computer Music (Grades 6-10)
Like music? Like computers? Want to combine the two? In Creating Computer Music, students will learn to use the Sonic Pi programming language to create beats, melodies, and full songs through code. We’ll also explore how to record your own samples, and dive into the wonderful, crazy world of live coding – performing with code!
Materials required: PC or Mac (absolutely no chromebooks or tablets) that has the latest versions of Sonic Pi (https://sonic-pi.net/) and Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/) installed. Headphones are strongly recommended.
**iPad will not work with this program.
June 22-26 and June 29-July 3, 2020
Intensive Study in Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story Writing (Grades 6-10)
Creativity is a critical outlet for intellectual thought and possibilities. This science fiction and fantasy course will involve learning to examine, analyze, and investigate short sample texts and will focus primarily on the intensive creation of your own short fiction in this genre. Where do you want to take us: futuristic societies, magical worlds, mythical lands, or other imaginative places?
**This program will actually be two weeks: June 22-26, 2020 and June 29-July 3, 2020
June 29 - July 3, 2020
Intensive Study in Animation: A Digital Artistry Experience (Grades 7-10)
Have you dreamt of creating your own animated worlds, characters, creatures and stories like the ones in blockbuster animated films? Animation has always been a place where anything you imagine can happen. In the Animation class, students will use the same concepts, techniques and tools as professional animators to bring their own ideas to life. Students will pitch ideas, designs, and stories, as well as learn how to give and receive creative critique. Additionally, students will have the option to collaborate with one another to create projects. At the end of the class students will have a broad understanding of 3D animation and will have produced an animation or digital composition.
Hands-on experiences will include:
- Observing, drawing, and communicating using perspective, composition, light, shape, and texture.
- Sketch and/or storyboard ideas
- Use 3D sculpting for organic modeling
- Use hard-surface modeling for geometric shapes
- Light, shade, and texture 3D models
- Learn basic rigging for 3D characters and creatures
- Observe motion and weight, and translate those observations to animation.
- Use key frames and curves for animation
- Use motion capture for realistic movement
Materials required: Computer that is less than 5 years old with Windows 10 or MacOS 10.12.6, 10gb of hard disk space, 4gb of RAM, a 3 button mouse (with a clickable scroll wheel)
Need to download Cinema 4D: https://www.maxon.net/en-us/try/ (two week trial) or https://www.maxon.net/en-us/learn/educational-licenses/students-and-instructors/ (6 month student trial)
*If you have any concerns with these requirements, contact email@example.com a minimum of 3 weeks prior to the start date of the class
July 6 - July 10, 2020
Intensive Study in Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (Grades 7-11)
Software developers use many tricks to give their game characters decision-making abilities. This course is for anyone wishing to know more about the algorithms behind common game behavior. The class will introduce a large number of important techniques used by game AI developers from decision theory, game theory and utility theory. The class will also go into the theoretical background behind these techniques.
1. Modeling Individual Decisions; Defining Decision; Deciding What to Decide
2. Analyzing a Single Option: Identifying Factors; Identifying Relationships; Building Connections; and Scoring the Option
3. Comparing Options; Selecting an Option; Testing the Algorithm; Summarizing the Decision Process
4. Changing a Decision; Monitoring a Decision: Time Frames and the Hybrid Approach
Intensive Study in Software Synth Building (Grades 9-11)
In this intensive course, students will learn how build their own synthesizer and audio effects using the Pure Data visual programming language, which lets you build programs similar to building circuits! We'll look at how to build sounds from basic waveforms, noise types, and filters. Then we'll change the sound through audio effects similar to guitar pedals to create the building blocks for music.
Materials required: Mac or PC (no chromebooks or tablets of any type) and the latest version of Pd-l2ork (a.k.a. Purr Data, because it's the internet and cat puts are required) found here https://github.com/jonwwilkes/purr-data/releases. May also want Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/). Headphones are recommended.
**iPad will not work with this program.
July 13 - 17, 2020
Intensive Study in Mathematical Machine Learning (Grades 8-10)
Machine learning will soon be an obvious and direct motivation for students to learn mathematics. This class will provide a brief but precisely stated glimpse of what machine learning is. The instructor will motivate the need for mathematical concepts by directly pointing out their usefulness in the context of four central machine learning problems: Regression, Dimensionality Reduction, Density Estimation, and Classification By the end of lecture, students will be equipped with the basic concepts presented for the day, and how they ﬁt into the larger context of machine learning. The instructor will also recommend numerous resources for further study to those students who’re interested. Students will be able to gain an understanding of the basic questions in machine learning and connect practical questions arising from the use of machine learning. Mathematical concepts covered include: Calculus, Linear Algebra, Probability, Distributions, and Analytic Geometry.