Arrupe Virtual Learning Institute (JVLA)
Arrupe Virtual Learning Institute
Formerly Jesuit Virtual Learning Academy (JVLA)
Fall 2019 & Spring 2020
Catalog of Credit-Bearing Courses for Students
A quick note…
Welcome to the Arrupe Virtual Learning Institute. Your school is making AVLI courses available to you as a means of providing you with the most extensive list of course options that will enable you to pursue interests that help you grow to be your personal best. Please demonstrate your appreciation to your school through your full participation. Not only will you do your school proud, you will stretch yourself as a learner and perhaps make new friends along the way.
Jeff Hausman Stephen Haessler
Executive Director Chief Academic Officer
Still Have Questions? Email Mrs. Fitti in the Academic Affairs office ~ Academics@BonnerPrendie.com
AVLI 2019-2020 Course List by Subject Area
The course catalog is arranged by term – year-long courses followed by fall term courses then spring term courses.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT
The AVLI offers a variety of Advanced Placement (AP) courses, all of which are College Board approved. AP testing is coordinated through the schools in which the students are enrolled. Like most schools, AVLI expects that students will sit for the College Board’s subject exam after taking the AVLI’s AP course. The cost for the AP exam is approximately $95.
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY DUAL CREDIT OPTION
AVLI has a dual credit partnership with Creighton University whereby students are eligible to receive 3 hours of college credit for select AVLI courses (identified in the course listing). To qualify, students enroll in the course and pay the traditional course fee. They will then be provided the option of applying for credit for an additional fee of $110 paid to the University.
YEAR LONG COURSES
September 5, 2019 thru May 1, 2020
AP Art History
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Fine Art
This survey course will cover the history of art from prehistory to the present. Students will study historically significant works of art including architecture, painting, sculpture, and mixed media. Through this course, students will learn to identify, analyze, and discuss artworks from a variety of cultures and stylistic periods. Students who complete this course will be prepared to take the AP examination in the spring. Strong organization and time management skills would be helpful. This class will take up a lot of time, so it is recommended students have room in their schedule for it.
AP Environmental Science
Available to: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Science
The goal of the AP Environmental Science course is to provide students with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them. Labs will be coordinated with the student's brick-and-mortar school. In the spring, students will be eligible to take the AP Environmental Science Exam offered by the College Board at their school. This class will take up a lot of time, so it is recommended students have room in their schedule for it.
AP Computer Science
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Computer Science (Dual Credit Eligible through Creighton University)
PREREQUISITES: Students should have successfully completed one course in a programming language such as C, C++, Visual Basic .Net, or Java. Moreover, students should know how to edit, compile, and run a program.
This course is a college level introduction to object-oriented programming in Java. Students will focus on a problem solving approach designed to focus attention on programming algorithms and data structures. Students will be fluent in the syntax and logic structures of the Java programming language as well as familiar with the Java API. Students will attempt difficult programming challenges, reflect on these exercises, and share their discoveries with their peers. In the spring, students will be eligible to take the AP Computer Science A Exam offered by the College Board at their school. This class will take up a lot of time, so it is recommended have room in their schedule for it. Why I love teaching this class.
AP Psychology
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Psychology/Social Studies (Dual Credit Eligible through Creighton University)
AP Psychology is a general introduction, similar to a first-year college course. The course surveys the major topics of psychology, including: Psychology’s early history to the present, neuroscience and behavioral genetics, sensation and perception, cognition (memory, intelligence, and language), motivation and emotion, states of consciousness, learning, development, personality, research methods, social dynamics, psychological disorders, and therapeutic methods.
AP Music Theory
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Music
This course corresponds to the introductory college music theory class. Topics to be covered include musicianship, reading and writing musical notation, musical materials, and procedures. The course sequence involves aural skills, sight-singing, melodic and rhythm dictation, aspects of melody, keyboard harmony, musical form analysis, and elementary composition. The goal is to develop the ability to recognize, understand and describe basic materials and processes of music that are heard or presented in a musical score. Students who complete this course are encouraged and eligible to take the AP Music Theory examination in the spring. Why I love teaching this class.
AP Spanish Literature and Culture
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Modern Languages
PREREQUISITES: Fluency in speaking, reading, and writing in Spanish
Following the College Board curriculum, this course is “designed to provide students with a learning experience equivalent to that of an introductory college course in literature written in Spanish. The course introduces students to the formal study of a representative body of texts from Peninsular Spanish, Latin American, and U.S. Hispanic literature. The course provides opportunities for students to demonstrate their proficiency in Spanish across the three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational) and the five goal areas (communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities) outlined in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. The overarching aims of the course are to provide students with ongoing and varied opportunities to further develop their proficiencies across the full range of language skills — with special attention to critical reading and analytical writing — and to encourage them to reflect on the many voices and cultures included in a rich and diverse body of literature written in Spanish.”
AP Statistics
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Mathematics (Dual Credit Eligible through Creighton University)
This course prepares students to take the Advanced Placement national examination in elementary statistics. It develops an intuitive, non-calculus based understanding with an emphasis on doing statistics. Statistics makes sense of data. It consists of a set of tools that allow us to make inferences in the face of uncertainty. Statistical methods draw from the Gaussian (normal, bell shaped) distribution as well as the binomial and chi-square distributions. We learn about data description concepts, hypothesis testing, probability, discrete and random variables, several inferential techniques, regression, and how to plan and carry out a properly designed statistical analysis. Why I love teaching this class.
AP World History
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Social Studies (Dual Credit Eligible through Creighton University)
AP World History is structured around the investigation of key course themes and concepts in six different chronological periods, from approximately 8000 B.C.E. to the present. These themes, examined across cultures and time periods, include: Interaction between humans and the environment; Development and interaction of cultures; State-building, expansion and conflict; Creation, expansion and interaction of economic systems; Development and transformation of social structures. Why I love teaching this class.
Arabic Level 1
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: World Languages
This yearlong course (for students with little or no prior knowledge of Arabic) combines the study of the Arab language with an introduction to Arab-speaking cultures. Students will gain practical experience in speaking Arabic with proper pronunciation to acquire basic conversational skills on topics, such as, greetings, shopping, and travel. Moving from English language-centered to an Arabic-centered class, students will learn basic vocabulary and sentence patterns used in daily life and social interaction. Cultural notes will be given along with speaking practice necessary for interpersonal communication. Why I love teaching this class.
Chinese Mandarin Level 1
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: World Languages
This course combines the study of the Chinese language with an introduction to Chinese culture. Students will gain practical experience in speaking Mandarin with proper pronunciation using the pinyin system to acquire basic conversational skills. Students will learn basic vocabulary and sentence patterns used in daily life and social interaction. Culture notes will be given along with speaking practice necessary for interpersonal communication. In addition, a certain amount of Chinese written characters are studied with a fun approach.
Latin Level 1
AVAILABLE TO: freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Languages
In this introductory course, students will learn the basic elements of Latin grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. Students will also study the Latin-based etymological roots of common English word families and selected topics from Roman history, culture, and mythology. By the end of the course, students will be able to read short, authentic Latin texts and write original Latin sentences using basic Latin grammar and vocabulary.
Latin Level 2
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors, and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Languages
Latin Level 2 builds on the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary skills established in Latin Level 1.
FALL 2019
September 5 thru December 13, 2019
AP Microeconomics
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Social Studies (Dual Credit Eligible through Creighton University)
How should faithful Catholics think about economics? This course integrates selected themes from the Neo-scholastic School of economics with the content of the Advanced Placement economics syllabus in microeconomics. The course prepares students to do well on the AP Microeconomics exam as well as offers a way to view our redeemed creation through the prism of social science. The economic way of thinking does not begin with Adam Smith. It is based on insights from Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, the Arrupe and Franciscan theologians at the University of Salamanca in Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and on the Popes’ social encyclicals. We develop our understanding of basic economic concepts and analytic tools by anchoring them to our faith’s moral traditions and foundations. Why I love teaching this class.
Bioethics: Navigating the Ethical Dilemmas of our Future
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Theology
This course is a general introduction to ethical theory and reasoning and its application to a number of hot current world issues, with particular emphasis on bioethics (moral dilemmas of modern biological and medical fields). It begins by addressing the question, why do ethics and moral decision making matter at all in a world we see operating so frequently without them? It surveys major ethical paradigms (common-good ethics, rights ethics, virtue ethics, and ethical relativism) and considers how each can help and hinder our pilgrimage to responsible, life giving choices for us and for our larger human family. Respectful consideration of opposing viewpoints, including the official teachings of the Catholic Church, is a hallmark of the course. By the end of the course, students should be able to manage some real cases on a committee of fellow ethicists using the vocabulary germane to ethicists in hospitals today.
C++ Programming
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Computer Science
This course will introduce students to computer programming using the C++ programming language. C++ is a programming language used in many applications, across many different industries. Through this course, students will learn the basic syntax necessary to write a computer program. They will learn how to attack a problem using the proper planning techniques. Students will learn about control structures, loops, procedures, arrays and much more. Another important aspect of this course is learning how to collaborate with other students. Each student will be put in a group of 3 and will work together to meet the objectives of the module. Collaborating with other students is essential to success of students in this course, as well as a much needed life skill. Why I love teaching this class.
Digital Photography
AVAILABLE TO: freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Art
Digital Photography is a semester course designed for beginning photographers. Students will learn the basics of photography and fine-tune their camera skills. The course will also cover composition and the principles of design that work to create an aesthetically pleasing photo. The course will not cover photo editing and retouching, but will focus on getting good images that don’t need editing. **Students must have a Digital SLR camera.
Model United Nations/International Relations (MUNIR)
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Social Studies
Model United Nations is an educational simulation and academic competition in which students learn about diplomacy, international relations, and the United Nations. International Relations is an academic course designed to examine the behavior of nations and states both individually and collectively. When you combine the two—that is, using the Model UN platform to examine the state of International Relations today, you have an interesting, intriguing, and fun way to enhance both your perception of global issues and your position as a citizen of your country and the global community. This is not a course that will drown itself in theory. Rather, it is designed to offer opportunities for students to study modern global issues, and the positions and interactions of nations and states, through research, simulations, discussion, and written assignments. Students are assigned a country at the beginning of the semester and represent that country during simulations, constructing position papers, resolutions, and amendments. Several seminars encourage students to participate in online discussion to resolve, or perhaps merely to understand better, an issue. Since committee work is such a vital part of the course, significant online interaction via email, video conferencing, or texting is a must for success. Simulations are based on the United Nations format.
Multimedia Authorship – The Power of Words and Images
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: English, Communications, Practical Arts, Media Studies
This course aims primarily to develop communication skills through student expression of his or her ideas using multimedia technology. Students will study models of multimedia composition used by professional and student writers and then create their own multimedia content, pushing the students to a mastery of the concepts and technical skills the composition requires. In order to fully participate in the class, the student must have a computer (Mac or Windows) on which he or she can install new programs. They will also need access to a digital camera. The semester will culminate with each student producing an original, substantive multimedia project on a topic of the student’s choice. Why I love teaching this class.
Principles of Engineering
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Engineering, Science
This course takes students on a “doing” tour of the discipline of engineering and several of its sub-disciplines including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer engineering. Students will learn the engineering design process and computer aided design and apply it to “hands-on” projects.
SPRING 2020
January 9 thru May 1, 2020
AP Macroeconomics
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Social Studies (Dual Credit Eligible through Creighton University)
How should faithful Catholics think about economics? This course integrates selected themes from the Neo-scholastic School of economics with the content of the Advanced Placement economics syllabus in macroeconomics. The course prepares students to do well on the AP Macroeconomics exam as well as offers a way to view our redeemed creation through the prism of social science. The economic way of thinking does not begin with Adam Smith. It is based on insights from Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, the Arrupe and Franciscan theologians at the University of Salamanca in Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and on the Popes’ social encyclicals. We develop our understanding of basic economic concepts and analytic tools by anchoring them to our faith’s moral traditions and foundations. Why I love teaching this class.
Astronomy: An Introduction
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Science
At some point in our lives, each of us has gazed at the night sky in awe of its sheer magnitude. While we have learned much about our planet and its relationship to other celestial bodies, in many ways, the cosmos is the last great frontier. But how did it come to be? How large is it? How much do we know about the universe versus what remains to be discovered? This course provides an introduction to the solar system, stars, the interstellar medium, the galaxy, and the universe. It is also designed to force students to think like scientists – separating fact from theory, studying relationships between objects in search of patterns, and more. Please note that Astronomic principles are grounded in Physics (which is largely grounded in Mathematics). Though students need not have studied Physics previously, they should be prepared to work within this discipline. Why I love teaching this class.
Bioethics: Navigating the Ethical Dilemmas of our Future
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Theology
This course is a general introduction to ethical theory and reasoning and its application to a number of hot current world issues, with particular emphasis on bioethics (moral dilemmas of modern biological and medical fields). It begins by addressing the question, why do ethics and moral decision making matter at all in a world we see operating so frequently without them? It surveys major ethical paradigms (common-good ethics, rights ethics, virtue ethics, and ethical relativism) and considers how each can help and hinder our pilgrimage to responsible, life giving choices for us and for our larger human family. Respectful consideration of opposing viewpoints, including the official teachings of the Catholic Church, is a hallmark of the course. By the end of the course, students should be able to manage some real cases on a committee of fellow ethicists using the vocabulary germane to ethicists in hospitals today.
Computer Game Development
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Computer Education, Technology
This course explores the process of game development, the principles of game design, styles/genres of computer games, techniques for game software engineering, and information about the computer game industry. Emphasis will be on pragmatic advice for game designers, together with techniques for game balance and analysis. Students will design and playtest a game as a course project. Group work is emphasized, especially the importance of collaboration between technical and artistic efforts. Students are expected to participate in game development using appropriate game development tools.
Computer Science Principles
AVAILABLE TO: freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Computer Science
This course will introduce students to a wide array of important computer science topics. It is hoped that students will learn the ideas and practices of computational thinking, and also how computers are impacting the world around us. Topics that will be covered include basic computer vocabulary, bits and bytes, programming, abstraction, internet and networking. Another important aspect of this course is learning how to collaborate with other students. Each student will be put in a group of 3 and will work together to meet the objectives of the module. Collaborating with other students is essential to success of students in this course, as well as a much needed life skill.
Database Development Using Microsoft Access
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Computer Science
This course introduces students to Microsoft Access in order to teach database and programming concepts and will show how to use Access as a problem solving tool. Access is part of the Microsoft suite and allows you to organize, manage, enter, analyze, and report on data. Topics will include tables, queries, forms, and reports using design tools within the software, and will introduce some basic programming concepts using macros and Visual Basic. Students will organize and build a database project throughout the course. Why I love teaching this class.
Genocide and the Holocaust
AVAILABLE TO: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Social Studies
This course takes a look at both the academic and social constructions of genocide. We will view the Holocaust as the paradigmatic example of, but not only, genocide in modern history. Students will study the causes and processes of genocide as well as other contemporary crimes against humanity. Students and parents should be advised that this course utilizes intense and disturbing materials.
How to Read Plays…and How to Write One
AVAILABLE TO: sophomores, juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: English
This class investigates how drama works and why we still read and watch plays. What, for instance, does a reader or a director do with that famous stage direction from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, "Exit, pursued by a bear"? Students will learn to think more broadly than just about drama, and will develop critical writing skills, forming arguments that think beyond the obvious and demonstrate a command of the text. Students will work throughout the semester on a capstone project: a short play of their creation to be handed in at the end of the semester. Those interested should expect to have one hour’s worth of work each of six days out of the week including, but not limited to reading, viewing lectures, watching film adaptations of plays, writing essays, posting to a discussion board, and participating in e-meetings. Why I love teaching this class.
Statistical Reasoning in Sports
Available to: juniors and seniors
Prerequisites: Completion of Algebra 1 and 2
The purpose of this course is to learn the foundational concepts and tools of descriptive and inferential statistical reasoning in a fun way. This is an introductory, non-AP course that covers most of the concepts in an introductory statistics course by working with data from high school, amateur, and professional sports. In our data-saturated world, citizens must be able to ask thoughtful questions, properly analyze data, and, most importantly, use critical thinking skills to draw appropriate conclusions and recognize inappropriate conclusions made by others. A culminating activity will include applying course concepts by analyzing data from a selected school sport activity, assuming approval from school administration and coaching staff.
The Art of Drama
Available to: sophomore, juniors and seniors
Course Listing: English
This class investigates how drama works and why we still read and watch plays. What, for instance, does a reader or a director do with that famous stage direction from Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, "Exit, pursued by a bear"? Students will learn to think more broadly than just about drama, and will develop critical writing skills, forming arguments that think beyond the obvious and demonstrate a command of the text. Students will work throughout the semester on a capstone project: a short play of their creation to be handed in at the end of the semester. Those interested should expect to have one hour’s worth of work each of six days out of the week including, but not limited to reading, viewing lectures, watching film adaptations of plays, writing essays, posting to a discussion board, and participating in e-meetings.
Today’s Latin America
Available to: juniors and seniors
COURSE LISTING: Social Studies
The goal of this Latin American Studies course is that students obtain a better understanding of the realities within the region. From a comparative analysis and critical perspective, students will identify similarities, parallelisms, and differences of the countries' common origins, confluences of historical processes, and the challenges of social and political issues facing globalization. Topics include Latin American historical backgrounds, culture, identity, economics, and politics.
“You Shall Not Pass”
Available to: sophomores, juniors and seniors
Course Listing: English
This course is structured like a game, and so is game-driven. We will journey through Middle-earth to engage with the opposing forces of Good and Evil, and the subtle borders that separate them, in one of the twentieth century’s most influential works of fiction: The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. To do this, we will take an interdisciplinary approach, using the tools of History, Literature, and Theology. Each day, students can expect to be doing one of three tasks: listening to a video lecture from the teacher, reading from Tolkien’s novel and supplementary texts, or writing about their findings. Through forum discussions, we will grapple with the multiple iterations of Good and Evil we find on our journey, and together we will become the historians, literary scholars, and theologians of Middle-earth.
Zombie Apocalypse: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Problem-Solving
RECOMMENDED FOR: seniors only
COURSE LISTING: Multi-Disciplinary
This course focuses on solving interrelated problems stemming from a serious and widespread catastrophe such as an epidemic of infectious disease. The course strengthens creative problem-solving skills by drawing analytical tools from theology (ethics), mathematics (statistics), science (biology), and social science (psychology and economics). We will consider calamitous infections that have changed the course of history. Included topics are: disease transmission, outbreak investigations, control measures, assessment, and field investigations. A culminating project will partner students from different schools to present creative solutions to mind-boggling problems.