Buckeye Precollege Courses

This course introduces participants to the strategies necessary to become successful fashion buyers, planners, product developers, and apparel entrepreneurs, while also training them to think “outside of the box” and sharpen their creativity and problem-solving skills. Participants will explore Columbus’ robust fashion and retail industry by meeting Fashion and Retail Studies Industry Board Members, visit local retail headquarters, learn laser cutting and Adobe Creative suite programs to develop basic design skills, learn fashion and retail sales terminologies and (digital) marketing techniques, and meet our community of local non-profit organizations committed to equitable growth within the fashion industry. The course will conclude with a group project presentation where participants will assemble in teams, with each team member assigned a critical industry role (for example, fabric vendor, garment sewing factory, logistics manager, designer, merchandiser, planner, quality control, etc.)

Academic pre-requisites: None

The arts and humanities provide a narrative of who we are and tell our collective and personal stories. Through individual and group assignments and activities, we will examine how to tell the stories of ourselves and others by reflecting on key influences and aspects of identity. This writing-intensive course will allow participants to reflect on their experiences across topics in the arts and humanities and connect those observations with aspects of their own identities in framing a personal narrative. Participants will create various artifacts from their research and experience which should relate to common prompts for college admissions essays and outlines some basic topics around self-advocacy and presentation skills.

Academic pre-requisites: None

Wicked problems are complex issues without clear boundaries, such as climate change, food security, access to clean water, growing inequality, and emerging infectious diseases. The goal of this course is to encourage participants to become wicked engineers and scientists who can tackle the grand challenges of today and tomorrow. Participants will rigorously examine multicultural circumstances outside of their lived experiences, and explore how engineering, technology, science intersect with the environment, human health and welfare, and social justice: how can the practice and application of engineering solutions contribute to (and potentially alleviate) societal inequality? This course also serves as an introduction to the field of Humanitarian Engineering, which emphasizes the societal dimensions of contemporary engineering. Participants will expand their professional skillsets by engaging in self-reflection and dialogue about intercultural considerations for tackling wicked problems and explore potential STEM career paths that address disparate effects on minoritized or underserved communities.

Academic pre-requisites: None

In this course, participants will be introduced to common engineering problems and will learn how to solve these problems programmatically using MATLAB. Throughout the course, participants will develop skills for computer program development from a problem-solving mindset. As part of the course, participants will develop programs in MATLAB to analyze large datasets, incorporate universal structures such as branching and looping, integrate MATLAB with the Arduino microcontroller, and learn how to develop apps using MATLAB.

Academic pre-requisites: None

What makes a cake rise?  What makes yogurt tangy? How do pretzels get their dark surface, and how do we keep apple slices from turning brown?  In this hands-on course, participants will be introduced to the science behind the culinary arts, through the lens of common ingredients and fundamental baking and cooking techniques. Through a mix of demonstrations, lab experiments, case studies, and group assignments, participants will learn about the microbiology of food-borne illness, how cooking changes the basic building blocks of food (carbohydrates, proteins, starch, etc.) at the molecular level, and human nutrition concepts. Students will investigate their own food choices and learn how food is made, how to make sure it is safe, and what happens when different cooking methods or ingredients are used. 

Academic pre-requisites: A high school course in biology or chemistry

Sociolinguistics is a field of social science that systematically investigates the relationship between language and social structures to help us understand how human societies work. Through overview readings that introduce sociolinguistics concepts and case studies exploring specific communities, we will see how language reflects and influences the histories, identities, and conflicts in a social world. Participants will also learn how to analyze language using social scientific concepts and methods and use data analysis to answer a research question. While the course will focus primarily on English in the US context, we will also explore other languages and social contexts, taking into account participant interests.

Academic pre-requisites: None

Quantum mechanics is the primary language for current physics research. This course introduces the ideas and formal structure of quantum mechanics without requiring calculus. The primary physical system used for exploring quantum properties is the electron's magnetic moment, most frequently referred to as the electron's spin. Using this quantum degree of freedom, we will explore the rules of quantum mechanics and some consequences of the rules like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Extending the quantum rules to multiple spins leads to the idea of entanglement, which bothered Einstein and led to his belief that quantum mechanics is incomplete. We will do the quantum mechanical calculation and compare it to a common sense analysis favored by Einstein and show that the two approaches disagree. The 2022 Nobel Prize in physics was given to Aspect, Clauser and Zeilinger for doing experiments that show nature agrees with quantum mechanics, not Einstein.

Academic pre-requisites: High school algebra; some trigonometry and a basic understanding of probability is helpful.

Many people assume that philosophy and literature are nice additions to a “real” education. But this is a relatively new perspective on these disciplines. From the time of the ancient Greeks until the Industrial Revolution, the humanities were considered the center of a real education, and were understood to equip their students with an “art of living.” This reading- and writing-intensive seminar will explore the idea of an art of living from the ancients to the moderns. Some questions we will consider: what did the ancients mean when they described thinking as an art of living? What makes up this art? How can we practice it? How does modernity transform our understanding of what it means to live a good life? And how can we reclaim this ancient tradition with an eye to making it work for us in our current, dizzying, hypermodern moment?

Academic pre-requisites: None

Athletic performance is multidimensional and too complex to be addressed by only one discipline. In this interdisciplinary course, we will draw on the expertise from two distinct disciplines, Human Nutrition and Exercise Science, to examine the impact physical fitness parameters and nutrition have on athletic performance. The course will present diverse perspectives on a variety of topics, engage participants in active learning scenarios, provide lab-based opportunities to apply knowledge gained and build skills related to topic areas, and leverage expert speakers and fieldtrips to integrate and synthesize the materials in real-life scenarios. Participants who complete this course will gain a comprehensive perspective of athletic performance.

Academic pre-requisites: High school biology or chemistry   

Astronomy has entered the “big data” era, in which huge collections of measurements are analyzed to attack the most challenging problems. In this course, we will explore how even the simplest data – the positions and brightness of stars – can address an active research problem. We will build the components of a data analysis pipeline using the most basic parts of the Python programming language, and use real data to search for young stars that have diffused away from the clusters they were born in. We will also explore many aspects of competency in the data sciences, not only for college work but also for future employment in many different fields. This is a true research project: we do not know the answers in advance but will instead discover them as part of our course.

Academic pre-requisites: High school algebra and geometry

Every space we live in was designed by someone. Designed spaces are elemental to supporting our daily activities, but how is the design of these spaces informed? What meanings do they take on, and how do they represent those who inhabit them? This course aims to explore the principles of architecture and interior design using The Ohio State University’s campus as a case study. Participants will learn to analyze designed spaces and examine their context through various uses (eat, sleep, work, and play). Coursework will utilize writing, sketching, mapping, and other activities to understand and critically analyze the built environment. A series of workshops will empower participants to employ professional methods of evaluating, modeling, and presenting designs for spaces. Participants will then have the opportunity to communicate their own understanding of designed spaces by creating their own design project.

Academic pre-requisites: None

First Person: An Introduction to Creative Nonfiction

Ever have a teacher discourage you from writing in first person, to avoid statements like “I think” and “I feel”? In this introduction to creative nonfiction, we are going to break that rule as we write true stories about our lives and society. We will study the craft of published works (e.g., John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed) and write our own short pieces, using the techniques of fiction and poetry to make them pop. At the end, we will collect our best work into a zine for publication. Why take this course? After all, creative nonfiction is vulnerable stuff. Gloria Anzaldúa says it best: “I write...to discover myself, to preserve myself, to make myself. To convince myself that I am worthy…” Together, I hope we will all write ourselves closer to appreciating our own and others’ worth.

Academic pre-requisites: None

Why do bananas help muscle cramps? How does ibuprofen know where to go in your body? Why is mouth-to-mouth no longer recommended in lieu of only chest compressions during CPR? What exactly is a heart attack, anyway? This course will explain the basic physiology of the human body in order to answer these questions. We will learn how the organs interact with each other to keep you alive and how those interactions are regulated. Participants will learn to predict physiological responses to pharmacological interventions (i.e. what happens when you take these drugs) by utilizing case studies and lab exercises. The specific topics covered by this course center around the cardiovascular system and include the autonomic nervous system, skeletal muscle function, blood disorders (ex: anemia), respiration, digestion, and kidney function.

Academic pre-requisites: High school biology

This course provides an introduction to pharmaceutical and associated healthcare sciences for those who may not initially consider themselves experts or even interested in these topics. Topics covered include the history of medicine, drug discovery and development, natural products, and pertinent public health crises. Topics will be presented through connections made to fantasy narratives, such as Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings. Previous knowledge of the magical worlds utilized is not necessary for success in this class. Participants will apply scientific concepts to in-class activities, team-based learning experiences, reflective papers, and a final project.

Academic pre-requisites: None

This course provides participants the tools necessary to gain financial literacy. In particular, this course integrates basic theories of economics and psychology into the exploration of personal finance concepts such as saving, investing, and borrowing. The course provides practical applications to help participants understand the complexities of financial decision-making. Participants who complete the course will be in a position to perform time value of money calculations, evaluate disparities in economic wellbeing across different demographic groups, assess economic indicators and the future direction of the economy, understand cognitive and emotional biases that affect financial decisions, and exhibit an effective understanding of tax laws and financial institutions.

Academic pre-requisites: High school algebra

Personalized medicine is the emerging practice of medicine that uses an individual's genetic profile to guide decisions made in regard to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. This course will educate participants broadly on the field of genomics and explore some of the common and high impact diseases that are affected by one’s genome, such as heart disease, cancer, mental health, and addiction. Participants will also delve into the discipline of pharmacogenomics: how genetic variation affects the body’s response to medications used in common health practice. Participants will have the opportunity to explore careers in genomic medicine, genomics research, and genetic counseling; they will also be exposed to social and legal issues unique to the field. Through the course, participants will be actively engaged in learning how genomics might impact their own lives, see application of knowledge to patient case scenarios, and learn more from guests and/or field experiences.

Academic pre-requisites: AP or Honors biology

Science fiction raises fascinating questions about our world and ourselves. Can a time traveler prevent themselves from being born? Is destroying a machine that acts like a human as bad as murder? If a transporter works by precisely recreating your body somewhere else, then is that person really you? In this discussion-heavy, problem-centered course, participants will work together to answer those questions and more, drawing upon a selection of excellent science fiction. Throughout the process, participants will develop and defend their own views about important concepts like time, identity, consciousness, freedom, moral responsibility, and the nature of reality. Participants’ study time will include movie screenings and a science-fiction reading group to make the puzzles more vivid, give participants a set of shared examples to draw on, and encourage them to think more deeply about the media that they consume.

Academic pre-requisites: None

This course provides a broad introduction to the sports industry, including sports management, leadership, sports analytics, sports tourism, marketing, and the economic impact of sports. Participants will also learn about different potential professional career paths within both public and private sport organizations, and have the opportunity to connect and converse with current sport industry professionals in the greater Columbus metropolitan area. Through individual assignments and group projects and presentations, participants will learn basic research methodology and explore their own career interests within the sports industry.

Academic pre-requisites: None