Interdisciplinary Classes

Students sitting and participating in Area II or III class

Area II and Area III are the classes that differentiate Governor’s School from subject-specific summer enrichment programs and help make it a unique and memorable experience.  Every student attending Governor’s School, regardless of Area I discipline, is assigned to both an Area II and Area III class, each of which meets three times per week.  Each Area II and Area III class comprises a diverse group of students from nearly every Area I discipline, promoting a richness of perspectives that helps in collaborative topic exploration.  

See below for descriptions of Areas II and III.

 

Area II and Area III

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AREA II is a course in critical, creative, philosophical thinking and inquiry. Students are asked to reflect and pursue their own learning, pay attention to the functioning of language in the development of ideas and societies, and investigate the very nature of thought and of the mind. A typical class might be a reading and discussion section, a sensory exercise, a game, a film, or a walk around campus—wherever the imaginations of the instructor and students lead. Ultimately, Area II provides the students with a set of intellectual tools with which they may consider their academic and artistic endeavors, as well as their personal ideas, in a more thoughtful light. Area II accounts for ~15% of a student's instructional week.

In AREA III, often referred to as 'Self and Society,' students learn to examine and articulate their opinions and listen to those of others, and examine their personal lives and convictions in relation to their communities and the world at large. Integrating ideas and discussions from Areas I and II and throughout the campus environment, Area III classes mirror the honest, non-defensive, and generous encounters with different perspectives that Governor’s School prizes, and typically are guided by a general topic. Area III discussions add to the Governor's School learning process by relating the overall curriculum to students' lives. Area III also accounts for ~15% of a student's instructional week.