2025-26 Course Descriptions - Catalog - Page 50
VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS
DIGITAL ART
How do we express our identity and voice through
the manipulation of digital media? How can we
use photography to document our world and tell a
story? This course encourages students’ 昀氀uency with
visual literacy and artistic expression through the
lens of digital media. Various techniques, such as
digital photography, illustration, and graphic design,
are introduced as modes for artistic expression
and methods for providing visual context to their
digital world. Students will explore how to analyze
and produce visual art using creative software such
as Photoshop and Lightroom. While the primary
emphasis of this class is framed in ones and zeros,
students pay special attention to the development
of traditional creative ideas—design theory,
composition, and formal artistic elements. Students
learn to see and think deeply while employing
artistic concepts in their own photographic and
digital work. Individual projects encourage students
to take ownership over their learning and express
their personality, identity, and world through the
digital medium. Representative pieces of each
student’s work are displayed throughout the year.
Students may take this course once in either 7th or
8th grade.
CODING & MAKING
How do we bring ideas from our minds into the world? What role do iteration, repetition, and logic play in
creating, re昀椀ning, and testing an experience or object? How can coding and making concepts allow us
to explore our passions and 昀椀nd ways to improve our world? This course teaches students foundational
coding skills and to use 3D modeling tools to design and create real-world objects. The year begins with an
introduction to visual and text-based coding languages (Scratch and Python) and culminates with students
designing, testing, and marketing their own game. Students will learn to use CAD tools to design both
functional and sculptural objects, which they then learn to fabricate using a variety of tools, including 3D
printers, laser cutters, and basic electronics. Students develop design thinking skills throughout the course,
emphasizing using our ideas to create change.
Note: Students may take this course once in either 7th or 8th grade.
Curriculum Guide | 50
