IMSA’s New Classes for the 24-25 School Year

The 2024-2025 school year brings exciting new classes for the IMSA community, especially for the upperclassmen. With the broad range of subjects is what is in store for the upcoming school year.

Psychology of Sport:

Another wellness class is added to the catalog! This class will be available for juniors and seniors and requires the completion of Foundations of Healthy Living or Moving and Learning. The concept of this class is to participate in a variety of games and activities and to use the four main game categories, target, net and wall, fielding and striking, and invasion, to understand the different concepts of Sport Psychology. There will also a topic of Sport Psychology including cultural humility and sociological perspectives in sport the the students would have to study asynchronously, a different topic each week.

Banned Books:

Moving on to the English classes, the controversies of book bans and other forms of intellectual censorship will be studied in this class. This class will be available for seniors and requires the completion of Literary Explorations III. Students will explore novels, works of drama, children’s literature, films, and graphic novels that have been on the receiving end of these bans. Students will also explore the organizations that authorized to restrict those works including government legislation, school boards, and special interest groups.

Literature and Films:

An English class where you watch movies? Sign me up! This class will be available for seniors and requires the completion of Literary Explorations III. While there are some literacy texts students would have to read, students will learn how to “read” films through studying formal cinematic elements and the basis of film analysis. Students will observe the changes of the stories and ideas through the passage of time and media.

Satire:

This course is back again! This class will be available for juniors and seniors and requires the completion of Literacy Explorations III. True to its name, students will learn about the powerful tool of satire, a type of humor used to diminish a subject. Through learning satire through past and present examples with an emphasis on context, conventions, and targets, students will become familiar with satire in its traditional and contemporary structures.

China in the World:

Replacing the Ancient World/Greek courses comes the new history class about China’s relation to the rest of the world. This class will be available for seniors and requires the completion of one credit of junior history. Students will examine media about China and learn about China’s chapter in world history.

Electronics:

Starting the list of the new science courses is electronics! This class will be available for juniors and seniors and requires the completion of SI Physics and SI Chemistry. Students will learn the basic concepts of electronics including voltage, currents, and more. They will also be learning new skills such as soldering, it’s a great class for beginners!

Statics and Dynamics:

Watch out! There is a new engineering course coming at IMSA! This class will be available for juniors and seniors and requires the completion of SI Physics and the current enrollment/completion of any AB or BC calculus course. This engineering course will study static structures such as buildings and bridges and dynamic structures such as levers and spacecrafts. The final project would be constructing a rocket, predicting its performance, then launching the rocket. This class takes learning engineering to the next level.

Biology – Evolution and Environment:

What was once known as the fall semester of Advanced Biological Systems is called Evolution and Environment. This class will be available for juniors and seniors and requires the completion of SI Chemistry and Methods of Scientific Inquiry. Students will use the UN Sustainable Development Goals to guide their studies in biological topics such as the history and evolution of life and the process of organisms and ecosystems.

Biology – Molecular and Cellular:

The other part of Advanced Biological Systems, the once spring semester is now called Molecular and Cellular. This class will be available for juniors and seniors and requires the completion of SI Chemistry and Methods of Scientific Inquiry. This course includes biological processes necessary to cellular function, replication, and diversification. Students will also learn about the interactions of organisms and the environment.

As the new school year begins, the new classes offer greater opportunities to learn in the wellness, literature, history, and science departments.