Teaching skills are developed through content-based activities, and an integrative curriculum between disciplines provides a big picture understanding of natural phenomena.

Physics

Inquiry classes provide monks with hands-on experience of doing science and constructing scientific models. Student ideas are tested through curriculum designed to intellectually engage and challenge misconceptions. Through these experiments students gain direct experience of physical phenomena and develop mental models that deepen their understanding the natural world. These topics include astronomy, sound, light (image formation and color), electrostatics, magnetism, kinematics, and others.

Lecture-based classes expose monks to some of the big ideas in astronomy and cosmology, elementary particles, and quantum mechanics.

Mathematics

Math classes focus on developing fundamental skills in support of learning science. Topics include proportional reasoning, geometry, and basic algebra.

Life Sciences

Neuroscience is at the heart of the interface between Buddhism and science. Interactive lectures from leading neuroscience educators provide opportunities for monastics to explore scientific understanding of the brain and mind. Topics focus on the neurophysiology of the sense organs and sense perception, brain structure, and brain function related to awareness and consciousness.