Math/Science Research

Students at Berkshire School have the opportunity to explore mathematics and science in a way that few high school students are able to. In addition to a rigorous selection of AP courses, the students are also able to do higher level mathematics and science research with professional research mentors. In Mathematics, students are able to take advantage of an accelerated track that lets them complete AP Calculus BC in their junior year and then take Multivariable Calculus with Differential Equations in their senior year. Berkshire is one of the few boarding schools in the nation to offer such a class and this year there are eight students in the course. The course is affectionately called “slash”, since it is more of a MVC/Differential Equations/Physics/Computer Science/Art course The student’s study how MVC and Differential Equations are used in a wide variety of areas such as architecture and design. The students also gain valuable experience with MatLab, a 3-dimensional graphing software program. This allows them to create their own Frank Gehry-inspired surfaces and analyze them mathematically. Numerical solutions to differential equations are developed in the course and the students learn enough computer programming to solve fairly complicated differential equations with the aid of a computer. In the Advanced Math/Science Research course (AMSR), students use the excellent foundation of knowledge acquired in the regular Berkshire curriculum as a springboard for beyond-the-curriculum projects in areas of cutting edge research and other fields seldom open to high school students. Students are placed with mentors in the Albany, New York area or the Hartford Connecticut area, and some students also work with mentors over the internet. Students learn how to conduct the “business” of doing research in the real world at their placements. AMSR is modeled after a handful of such courses around the country. Students work intensively with a mentor who is a professional research scientist and write a critical review paper and a research paper, both in scientific journal format. They then present the results of their year’s research using PowerPoint presentations and posters to the members of the Math and Science Departments and others in the Berkshire community. Optional competitions are made available to the students, and optional trips to out-of-town and out-of-state science events occur regularly. Some students have the opportunity to obtain patents on their work, or become authors or co-authors of technical publications and may present their work at national conferences. This is the third full year for AMSR at Berkshire with twenty students participating. For a list of the student projects and mentors for the 2009-10 class year, click here.  Over the course of the academic year, each student's research will be profiled on the main page of the website, and archived on this page.  To read articles about the research projects from last year's class, click here. To read about the School's Math Club, currently tied for first place with Exeter, and ranked ahead of peer schools Hotchkiss, Taft and Deerfield, click here. To read about about last year's Math Club team, ranked first in the nation for boarding schools with less than 500 students, click here.