Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences
The Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences (PGSS) is one of the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence, a group of five-week summer programs for gifted high school students in the state of Pennsylvania. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh has hosted the program since its inception in 1982. Currently, it is directed by Dr. Barry Luokkala. Participants are required to be Pennsylvania high school students between their junior and senior years and are required to live in the dormitories for the full five weeks of the program. Admission into the program is very competitive - approximately 500 students compete for the 100 spaces in the program (this number was recently raised from 90). The aim of PGSS is to promote interest in science rather than to advance students' knowledge in a specific area. The curriculum includes five "core" courses in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics, and numerous electives. In addition to taking classes, students are required to participate in a lab course and a research-style team project. The emphasis is on cooperation, rather than competition - students are encouraged to both collaborate with other students on academic work and to interact socially.
Core Courses
None of the teachers of the core courses are required to teach any one particular area or course. They are simply hired to teach a course in the general subject area. As a result, the core courses vary from year to year. However, it is typical for the Biology course to be in HIV/AIDS Biotechnology, the Chemistry course to be in Organic Chemistry, the Mathematics Course on Discrete Mathematics and the Physics course typically covers concepts in Modern Physics, often focusing on Special Relativity. The Computer Science Course covers basic programming concepts and offers independent study for those with experience. [1] As it is not unusual for a student in the PGSS program to be unfamiliar with a topic, it is common for the students to help one another to stay abreast of the workload. The core courses typically run fifty minutes each four days a week, with four courses each day from Monday through Friday. Students may drop one core course after two weeks, provided that they are taking at least one elective and have completed outstanding homework assignments in that course[2].
Lab Courses
A laboratory course is offered in every subject except Mathematics. Typically, one or more inter-disciplinary laboratory courses are added. These usually meet twice a week for three hours. Depending on the subject area, it may be required that the laboratory course and the Team Project be in the same area.
Electives
This is perhaps the second most variant course topic in the PGSS program, with the most variant being the team projects. Electives typically run for an hour twice a week. Taking more than three electives in addition to all of the core courses is not permitted without special permission from the director. Usually, several electives, including Astrophysics and several Mathematics electives are consistently offered every year, although content in these courses may change.
Team Projects
All PGSS students are required to participate in a team project. The areas generally match the areas of the core courses. These team projects, each culminating in a final scientific research paper, are presented during the last week of the PGSS program known as "Team Project Week." During Team Project Week, no classes are held, due to the immense demand on the participants' time from their research paper and presentations. The final papers are compiled for the PGSS Journal. [3]
Homework
Typically, PGSS students must complete and hand in an assignment once a week for every core course, and must also hand in any homework for electives. The PGSS program strives to emulate the modern scientific community by encouraging collaboration and cooperation among students as they complete their assignments. The homework problems are often designed to require copious amounts of time and effort if one attempts to solve it without teaming up, thus encouraging a cooperative atmosphere. In addition to this, students participating in this program are not ranked among their peers, thus removing any reason for isolation solely to stand out.