Please excuse me if this is in the wrong forum area. I attempted to fit it in the best I could.
I am a high school student that is interested in a career in research in some area of science. I am not certain which field I would like to go into.
I am not sure how to begin exploring these interests. The kind of material I am learning now is a bit frustrating. I feel like the way we learn science in school is a bit superficial. For example, we learn that electrons like to be in groups of eight to be “stable,” causing certain atoms to bond to one another. There are subatomic particles, like protons that have a positive charge, and negatively charged electrons that fly around in these crazy shapes and patterns. But I am unsatisfied with this, as I do not really understand the concepts beyond the context in which they explain it. What is charge? What specifically causes these particles to behave the way they do? I would like to fully understand the concepts and how these things actually work in life, not what seems like analogies or simplifications or explanations that are very incomplete.
It seems like much of the written material available to me is like this. Other books seem too advanced and beyond my current level of experience. Similarly, reading scientific articles can be interesting, but at the same time unsatisfying as I understand very little of the specific details that allowed the researchers to build their conclusions.
I have a good amount of time explore this area of interest, but I am not sure what the best way for me to use it is as a high school student. From what I’ve read, it seems like I would have to learn classical mechanics and then move onto subjects in quantum mechanics and electromagnetism to get the level of understanding I am looking for. But I wouldn’t know where to start or what books to look for. It seems like that also might be an inefficient use of my time at this point. Am I looking at this in the wrong way?
I guess the question of this post is: What is the best way for me to start learning more about science?
