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- Beginning Excel for PCs – In-Person
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Do you think spreadsheets are for accountants? I will de-mystify Excel spreadsheets and show how they can be used to plan and organize activities, keep track of expenses, and do simple analyses. The course will start with the basics, including the Excel Window and ribbons. We will navigate using shortcut commands and learn techniques for entering and formatting numerical and alphabetic data. We will manipulate page layouts and copy or move pages from one spreadsheet to another. Other topics include using basic arithmetic operations, analyzing data with simple functions such as SUM and AVERAGE, and use of simple IF statements. This is a course for beginners, and students are not expected to have experience using Excel for PCs. This is a hands-on course. Students must bring their laptops to class to work on in-class exercises.
NOTE: Students must have Excel for PCs (version 2013 or later) loaded on their laptop (PCs only) and know how to download, save, and open files from emails. The instructor will email files to students with exercises to use during class and to practice techniques at home. Before each class, students must download the files from emails and save them on their laptops to use in class.
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- Calculus from a Middle School Perspective – In-Person
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Item Number: W25STEM310A
Dates: 1/8/2025 - 1/29/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 34
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room A
Instructor: Irv Lubliner
Morris Kline, author of “Mathematics for the Nonmathematician,” wrote: “Calculus provides the framework for studying change and the limits of processes,” making it the key to many scientific breakthroughs. Despite its importance, calculus often feels intimidating and mysterious due to its departure from more familiar areas of math. This course aims to demystify calculus, making its concepts and applications clear and accessible to all. Consider this: We calculate average speed by dividing distance by time — covering 80 miles in two hours gives 40 mph. But what does it mean to travel exactly 62 mph at 3 p.m., with no time elapsing at that instant? This course will explore such questions and more. While a basic understanding of first-year algebra can be helpful, no prior knowledge is required. Let’s have fun doing math together!
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- Exploring Your Immune System – Online
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Item Number: W25STEM191
Dates: 1/7/2025 - 2/4/2025
Times: 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 299
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: John Kalb
Let us explore the immune system together in a step-by-step fashion to untangle its many mysteries, components, and functions. Second only to the brain in complexity, this lifesaving system protects us on a daily basis from a world of threats including viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and toxins. Knowledge is powerful if it leads to appropriate action. The better we understand the workings of our immune system, the better we can support its function and not weaken it. This is especially important right now with all the confusion surrounding COVID-19 and the other infectious diseases out there. Some of the topics we will cover include innate and adaptive immunity; the major organs, cells, and messenger molecules involved in immune function; and how the immune system distinguishes between “self” and “non-self.” This introductory, science-based Zoom course will use colorful and easy-to-understand slide presentations and lectures, and some discussion, with questions and answers.
NOTE: The course, last taught in Winter 2024, has been updated with the latest information on COVID-19 and other common respiratory infections.
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- Landscapes Revealed: What Gets Served on Plates – Online
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Item Number: W25STEM171
Dates: 1/7/2025 - 1/28/2025
Times: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 299
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: Karen Grove
Earth’s surface is all cracked up! The upper, brittle layer of our planet is broken into large pieces called plates that are always on the move — that’s plate tectonics. It is at the edges of these plates that most geologic action, such as earthquakes and volcanoes, occurs. On the U.S. West Coast, we live “on the edge” and can explore the different types of plate boundaries using nearby examples. In this class we will examine the characteristics of plate boundary types — divergent, convergent, and transform — and the landscapes that result. Geologic action can also occur in the middle of plates where there are underlying “hot spots.” Locations to be explored include the Basin and Range Province of eastern Oregon, the Cascadia subduction zone on the Oregon coast, the offshore Juan de Fuca mid-ocean spreading ridge, the San Andreas fault in California, and the Yellowstone and Hawaiian hot spots. No prior geologic experience is needed.
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- Organizing and Sharing Digital Photos Using iCloud – Online
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Item Number: W25STEM136
Dates: 1/9/2025 - 2/6/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: Th
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 53
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: Neal Strudler
This course is designed to help participants take, organize, store, edit, and share digital photos and videos. Emphasis will be on using Apple Photos on the iPhone, Mac, and iCloud. Participants will learn to manage iCloud settings; store and share photos and videos; perform basic edits; play and modify memories; set up albums and slideshows; search and organize photos by person, location, and activities; trim live photos, bursts, and videos; and remove duplicate photos. Privacy and security issues will also be discussed. Participants should be able to use Zoom for video conferencing and have a basic comfort taking digital photos, accessing the web, and using online applications.
NOTE: Two separate sections of this course are offered: one is held at the Campbell Center of Fridays; one is held online on Thursdays.
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- Organizing and Sharing Digital Photos Using iCloud – In-Person
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Item Number: W25STEM136A
Dates: 1/10/2025 - 2/7/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: F
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 32
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room A
Instructor: Neal Strudler
This course is designed to help participants take, organize, store, edit, and share digital photos and videos. Emphasis will be on using Apple Photos on the iPhone, Mac, and iCloud. Participants will learn to manage iCloud settings; store and share photos and videos; perform basic edits; play and modify memories; set up albums and slideshows; search and organize photos by person, location, and activities; trim live photos, bursts, and videos; and remove duplicate photos. Privacy and security issues will also be discussed. Participants should be able to use Zoom for video conferencing and have a basic comfort taking digital photos, accessing the web, and using online applications.
NOTE: Two separate sections of this course are offered: one is held at the Campbell Center of Fridays; one is held online on Thursdays.
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- Physics for Nonphysicists: Basic Ideas in Physics – In-Person
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Item Number: W25STEM113A
Dates: 1/7/2025 - 2/4/2025
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 78
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room E
Instructor: John Johnson
How do physicists think about physical problems? How do things move? How do things interact? What are things made of? What about gravity, electricity and magnetism, elementary particles, physical astronomy, and cosmology? The answers to these and other exciting questions will be revealed when the curtain is lifted and, hopefully, all is illuminated. As much time as necessary will be devoted to your questions. There are no dumb questions; we are all in this together. We will try to cover all the topics, but we will go as slowly as needed to ensure all your questions are addressed. Remember, if you have a question, the probability is high that other students have the same question. The course will be taught using PowerPoint presentations and other visual and audio material.
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- Practical AI Applications – Online
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Item Number: W25STEM309
Dates: 1/15/2025 - 2/12/2025
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 42
Building: Online
Room: (Zoom)
Instructor: James Jarrard
Practical AI Applications presents how artificial intelligence is integrated into day-to-day applications, such as word processing, email, and presentation slide preparation. The course will demonstrate methods of using several current consumer level artificial intelligence programs to intermediate computer users. The primary focus will be on no-cost products from Alphabet/Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic/Claude.AI. Seminar attendees should have a working knowledge of computer operations, including word processing, graphics manipulation, email use, and presentation slide creation and modification.
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- Sex Education: Factors Influencing Sexual Identity – In-Person
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Item Number: W25STEM308A
Dates: 1/9/2025 - 1/16/2025
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Days: Th
Sessions: 2
Maximum Enrollment: 19
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room B
Instructor: Mary Ellen Gordian
This course will teach about the development of sexual organs in humans and the known factors that can influence that development. It will identify human conditions known to affect the appearance of the external sexual organs at birth and at puberty. The genetics of sexual presentation will be discussed, as well as maternal conditions and environmental factors that can affect the presentation at birth. Embryological development will also be presented. The implications of this information will be discussed and some of the fallacies of current political thought will be noted. Students will be encouraged to ask questions and share information. The instructional method will be lecture with a PowerPoint presentation. Citations from medical literature will be available. A basic understanding of biology and genetics at high school level will be assumed for students.
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- Weather Forecasting for Citizens – In-Person
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Will icy roads slow the drive to work tomorrow? Will snow levels result in school closures next week? Will wildfires be severe this summer? Weather has major impact on our lives. Meteorologists strive to provide forecasts that will answer these questions and help us prepare for and mitigate weather’s effects. We will explore the methods meteorologists use to predict short and long-term weather patterns. Weather is very complex and is affected by many factors. The accuracy of forecasts often depends on the level of detail available for use in models, which may be lacking. Topics covered will include atmospheric composition, structure, circulation, and energy transfer; impacts of mountains and oceans on weather patterns; and many other factors influencing weather. A wide range of atmospheric hazards such as hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning, drought, flooding, and climate change will be explored. Students who take this course will better understand how the atmosphere works.
NOTE: There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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