As Marlborough students make headway in deciding courses for the 2022-2023 school year, each department has added at least one new class to the course of study. In the Mathematics Department, a new course, Algebraic Finance, is now offered for upper school students with a prerequisite of Algebra II. This year-long course will teach students the valuable skills of finance using prior algebra skills. Furthermore, a class titled History of Mathematics is offered for any student who has already taken Geometry. This semester-long class will answer the frequently asked questions of “why are we learning this?” or “how was this created?” as well as some arithmetic work.
In the History and Social Sciences Department, a semester-long course, Reproductive Justice, is now offered to grades 11 and 12. Reproductive Justice seeks not only to destigmatize discussion of reproductive rights, but also teach students about the legislative history behind reproductive rights in the United States.
Next year, Marlborough’s Science Department will broaden its horizons with new courses such as Biology of Sex & Gender and Engineering & Invention for Social Impact. Biology of Sex and Gender is offered to upper schoolers and is one-semester long. This course will explore the definitions of biological sex and gender, and scientific views around changing social and cultural views on sex and gender. Engineering and Invention for Social Impact is a full year course offered to Upper School students. The class allows students to design and create an invention, which will be displayed in the annual competition, Project Invent, and learn design skills. Project Invent is a competition designed to showcase student’s engineering work. The Visual Arts Department expanded greatly for the 2022-2023 school year, with the additions of higher-level architecture courses titled Architecture 5 and Architecture 6. Students who have taken Architecture 1- 4 are qualified for Architecture 5 and 6, and will allow for them to expand their developing architectural knowledge and skills. Both classes are one semester long. In addition, a graphic design course is now offered. Providing instruction in the design of print products like movie posters or advertisements, and familiarizing students with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
As the language department has been working towards creating this language section for Marlborough students, Korean 1A is now offered as an official course (whereas in the 2021-2022 school year, it was an elective). Korean 1A follows a similar structure to most Marlborough language courses (particularly with it being a year-long course), however one can start in 9th grade with no prerequisite and go straight into Introduction to Korean Language and Culture II. This new course focuses equally on Korean culture as it does on language.
The CEI has become more popular for non-classroom setting courses since its opening, and this year it offers a new leadership course titled Leadership for Social Change. This Upper School and semester-long course unpacks the theory of leadership and how to specifically lead for social change.
Finally, Robotics has added an introductory course to those seeking a background and information on basic robotics. Intro to Robotics is offered to grades 7-10, and will be one semester long. Students will comprehend the uses of different robot parts and systems, as well as Java programming.