Digital Learning Innovations

Our Library program expands and enriches students' lives through literature and art from diverse cultures and times. Balanced information, excellent writing, multicultural perspectives, and different genres help shape our resource selection.

The digital Learning Innovation programs offer a wealth of learning experiences and resources to help develop independent, self-motivated, disciplined learners and agile thinkers who use critical and creative design thinking skills to find, analyze, and evaluate information, recognize problems, ask important questions, and reach creative solutions.

(G) = Global Course marker. This course is certified to meet the requirements to fulfill the Endorsement for the Global Pathways Program

GLOBAL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

Intro to Business

This introductory course explores the dynamic world of business. Students will develop an understanding of a variety of business functions and of the importance of ethics and corporate social responsibility. This course builds a foundation for further studies in business and helps students develop the business knowledge and skills they will need in their everyday lives.

Overview of Topics Include:

• Accounting and Finance

• Social Media Marketing

• Human Resources

• Production, Products, Pricing

• Entrepreneurship

• Business Law

Students will engage in creative collaboration through project-based learning experiences. Students enrolled in this course have the opportunity to join the DECA Business and Marketing Organization. Open to grades 9-12, but designed as a foundational course.

User Experience (UX) Design

Join us for an amazing introduction into the cutting-edge field of User Experience/Interface Design. Think about your favorite app or video game - what makes it successful? How easy it is to navigate? How does it make you feel? Or maybe you just love the layout of the information? All of these questions and more are explored through User Experience (UX) Design.

UX design is the process used to create products and services, including apps and games, that provide meaningful and positive experiences to users. “User experience" encompasses all aspects of the user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

Topics will include:

• Cognitive Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

• User-Centered Research Methods and Business Strategy

• 5 Elements of UX including Interaction Design, Information Architecture and Visual Design

• The User Experience of Virtual Reality and Virtual Worlds

• Prototyping with collaborative design apps

Open to Grades 9-12. Designed as a foundational course

Social Entrepreneurship

Have you ever wondered how you could change the world with an idea? Social Entrepreneurship is all about developing ideas and launching organizations that strive to advance social change through innovative solutions. It is the business of making the world a better place!

Topics will include:

• A Design Thinking Approach to developing social innovations

• A comprehensive research approach including interviews, surveys and secondary research

• Speech outlines for visually appealing persuasive presentations and communication strategies

• Interactive business planning and project management with data-driven, collaborative apps and documents

In this course, students will collaborate with classmates on a social issue they care about. They will research and develop a unique social innovation, prototype a solution, and persuade “potential investors” with a solid business plan and pitch that their organization has the most promise to launch and sustain a successful social enterprise. This course is designed to provide a socially relevant academic experience in order to help students gain in-depth insights into economic and social value creation across sectors and sustainable development areas, including poverty, education, energy, health and sustainability.

Students enrolled in this course have the opportunity to join the DECA Business and Marketing Organization.

Open to grades 9-12, and designed as an advanced course

MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

Film & Video Production I

A hands-on course designed to demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of television as a medium for communication. Working collaboratively, students will learn about the principles of communication, techniques of effective storytelling, technical setup and operation of television equipment. The course involves some after-school hours for recording various Andover events. This entry level course requires no previous production experience. Open to Grades 9-12.

Broadcast Journalism Half Year

Broadcast Journalism is an introductory course that will explore all aspects of television news and visual storytelling. Students will learn the basics of reporting, videography and editing stories. In this hands-on, collaborative environment, students will produce and broadcast the AHS News program, for the AHS Community. Areas of study include producing, story selection, writing, reporting, interviewing, camera work, editing, directing, graphics, audio, lighting and much more. The course involves after-school hours that will be used to record various sports and school events.

This entry level course requires no previous production experience. Open to Grades 9-12.

Yearbook Publication

Students enrolled in this course will work collectively to develop the Andover High School Yearbook. The course requires outside time. Students will develop knowledge of photo, typography, color theory and online design programs. This course will use various software to create, edit and lay out the annual yearbook. Class activities will be coordinated with the advisor of the yearbook. Open to all grades. Prerequisite: Students with experience producing a yearbook, who have taken Graphic Design or Photography, or with permission from the teacher.

R, D & E - RESEARCH, DESIGN and ENGINEERING

DL420

I Lab - AHS Innovation Lab

Unleveled

.5 credit

The ILab is an innovation lab that offers our students the skills to grapple with problems that do not yet exist. Students in ILab experience an intense integrated environment characterized by ambiguous, complex, ill defined, and unstructured problems to be addressed by rigorous brain/hand storming, extreme collaboration, prototyping, iterating, design, and experimental methodologies.

The ILab class operates around a semester based theme, (past themes have included: the classroom, myth, fun and games, playground power, stuff, society, risk, etc.), during which students participate in four, month-long design challenges. During the first month of every semester, students learn essential design thinking skills utilizing IDEO and Stanford University’s Design Thinking tool kits. Design challenges in each theme are based on an iterative model, where learners undergo a series of graduated problems under the close supervision of a faculty coach who constantly assesses and offers feedback to the students.

During the ILab experience, students will work in an immersive project-based environment using cutting edge skills and technologies while working with ill structured problems in a completely integrated, action-oriented environment. Students also enhance fundamental academic skills including research, oral communication and presentation, and scientific and quantitative reasoning and analysis.

I Lab is an introductory course designed for 9th and 10th grade students but open to any student with an interest.

SC810

G Lab - Green Energy Engineering

Unleveled

.5 Credit SC or .5 Credit DL

The AHS Green Energy Engineering Lab (G-lab) enables students to dig into our world’s need for electricity and provides an introduction to cutting edge green engineering and design with a focus on the development of green energy sources and their usage for meeting society’s growing energy needs. A series of topic-specific workshops provide a balance between weekly, guided seminars on ‘green’ topics and hands-on design challenges utilizing the Engineering and Design Process (EDP). Students will become familiar with the Global Goals for Sustainable Development through hands-on, design driven projects, will explore how various energy sources (wind, solar, hydro-electric, geothermal, biomass) are used to create electricity, and how that electricity is stored and transmitted.

G Lab is an introductory course designed for 9th and 10th grade students but open to any student with an interest. (formally Exploring Engineering II: Energy and Electronics)

SC820

R Lab - Robotics

Unleveled

.5 Credit SC or .5 Credit DL

The R Lab offers students the opportunity to explore the growing field of robotics. Students will apply the engineering design process while designing, constructing, and programming VEX robots that have the capacity to manipulate a variety of objects and perform various functions. Can your robot pick up a grape without crushing it? Can your robot carry either a lightweight container or a heavy football without toppling over? Can your robot perform these tasks faster than the robots of other teams without burning out your battery? In the RLab, students will investigate these questions and many others.

Along the way, students will learn the basic components and building blocks of robots including motors, gears, drive trains, manipulators, controllers, and sensors. In addition to building robots to perform specific tasks and functions, students will explore the broad scope of robotic applications in the world today. Design challenges are a regular component of the course.

R Lab is an introductory course designed for 9th and 10th grade students but is open to any student with an interest.

(formerly Exploring Engineering - Robotics)

Digital Information Systems and Computer Science

Introduction to Programming

This course is an introduction to computer programming using a variety of programming languages. Data types, variables, math operations, decision-making, and loops will be utilized. Concepts will be introduced with a graphical drag and drop programming interface. Text based languages such as Python and Java will be introduced. A foundation in computational thinking and in the principles of computer programming will be developed with an emphasis on the common principles of high level computer programming languages. No previous programming experience is required. Students should sign up for the same level that they are taking for math. Prerequisites: Minimum grade of B in previous math class.

Java Programming

This course is a mathematically oriented introduction to the Java programming language. There is an emphasis on algorithm development and programming style using object oriented paradigm. Topics included are: data types, variables, math operations, methods, strings, arrays, decision-making, loops, file I/O, arrays, classes, interfaces, and graphics. Students who are planning to take AP Computer Science Java must take Java Programing as a prerequisite the previous year. Prerequisites: Successful completion of Introduction to Programming or comparable programming background and permission from CS teacher.

digital Learning Innovations - ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITIES

DECA

The AHS DECA Program prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. Students who participate in any courses within the “Global Business Solutions” courses can apply to become members of the AHS Deca Chapter. Students will participate in local, state and national conferences, along with other business enrichment opportunities. The club is guided by our DLi Deca Advisory Team, Karen Stevens and Ashley Kinsman. To learn more about the DECA Program, visit the website here.

IDEAStudio - Digital Fabrication

I.D.E.A.S. = Innovation + Design + Engineering + Arts and Sciences

Because

the Sciences help us understand how the world works and

the Arts help us understand how we will work in the world

The IDEAStudio connects students, faculty, and the community in the collaborative creation of products and solutions that require extended focus over time, match the complex real-world tasks and investigations of professionals in practice, and integrate knowledge from multiple disciplines.

The IDEAStudio team helps facilitate a comprehensive PreK–12 Design-Engineering program, which embraces the maker-mindset to prepare students for an open-ended and rapidly changing future.

The AHS IDEAStudio houses state-of-the-art digital and traditional fabrication tools and resources.

• 3D Printers

• Laser Cutters

• CNC Machines

• Vinyl/Paper Cutters

• 
  Sewing Machines/Textiles

• Electronic/Soldering Kits

• Raspberry Pi

• Arduino

• 
  Hand Tools

• Basic Power Tools

• Shop Vac

• PPE