science

Students at Interlochen Arts Academy are offered a full range of mathematics and science courses to complement and inform the work they do in their arts majors. The faculty believes in the importance of student-centered learning and student engagement in activities that make math and science relevant in their lives and their arts. Students are continuously engaged in group activities that emphasize peer-to-peer interactions and student response systems that strengthen their understanding of explored concepts. Students experience a deliberate and well-planned curriculum that balances the use of traditional approaches with the enhancement of various technological tools.

The Math and Science Division is supported by an endowment from the R.B. Annis Educational Foundation. The generous support of the Annis Foundation has allowed the Math and Science Division to become a leader in using technology in the clasroom. The generosity of the Annis Foundation supports an annual camping trip for up to 40 students. Field trips and speakers, including collaborations with arts departments around campus, are supported by the endowment. All faculty participate in ongoing professional growth by attendance at regional and national conferences.

Faculty in the R.B. Annis Math and Science Division recognize that there's a wonderful marriage between the arts and sciences. Students at Interlochen Arts Academy have the talent and ability to express themselves through an art form, giving them tremendous power to educate and share with others. It is ever more critical that these students develop an appreciation of the natural world, an ability to interpret numerical data, and the ability to think critically and ethically about the way science is shaping society.

R.B. Annis Math and Science Division students get their hands dirty and their feet wet in some of the most interesting places.  For example:

• Scaling to new heights in the canopy of the Belizean and Peruvian rainforests on the annual elective tropical ecology trip to Latin America.
• Conducting aquatic studies and visiting the shores of Lake Michigan
• Experiencing the wilderness of the Manitou Islands of Lake Michigan
• Studying the ecology of the Great Lakes aboard the tall ship, The Inland Seas
• Exploring aquatic and terrestrial habitats on our 1200-acre campus