Where To Go

[Protein]

Okay, I don't really know where to go so I'm just going to give the lowdown. I'm just a guy who's interested in science. I'm only in high school. I'm only in grade 10. Seems so young compared to the rest of the forum... but I don't see how it should be a damper on my interest in science. I have a few questions.

 

1) How do I know I have any sort of talent/ability for science/mathematics? I mean I've gotten good marks in high school so far (general science: 95ish, Math, 90ish) but I mean I doubt those are good indicators. It's more a matter of working hard than having any innate ability. Whatever I do I like to challenge myself, achieve something that would be difficult for others. How do I know I'm capable of this in the science field?

 

2)I'm mainly interested in physics. Is there some reading material on physics/astronomy that I can pick up and get me ahead of the game? The high school cirriculum moves too slowly for me. I won't mind also looking at less detailed books for other fields of science... just so I'm well rounded.

 

Thanks for any help.

[Mr Skeptic]

You remind me of when I was younger. I always liked physics, and I now realize it is probably because I like to learn general principles from which the details can be derived, which is exactly what physics is.

 

I liked the hyperphysics website: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/hframe.html. You probably want to go to the mechanics section first.

[DJBruce]

As I am only in 12th grade myself I could not give you a good way to measure your ability. You seem to have a passion for the sciences, and I would say in high school that is equally if not more important than ability. If you really want to see how you rank with some of the top students in the country. I would make sure to take a challenging curriculum with some AP courses, or their equivalent. You could also try competing in national and local competitions such as the Chemistry Olympiad, Physics Olympiad, or an one of the numerous math contests out their.

 

As for were to go to learn some physics. I would go to the local library and see if they had a physics textbook which you could go through. There is also this website which someone else posted here a while back. It might be of some use.

[A Tripolation]

Kid, math and science are pure evil. Run far far away and never look back.

 

Hm, have you looked into your school's Advanced Placement program? Almost every high school has some sort of honors or AP course system that provides more challenge to the more gifted students. There was a sophomore in my AP Calculus class, so they pretty much let you in if you can prove that you can do the work. Well, at least at my old high school.

[HOMER-16]

Hey, 11th grade here. I would do what DJ and Tri suggested. Take as many AP courses as possible even if they don't pertain to science. They will win favor with colleges and universities where you can get a more advanced education on the topics.

 

Also, aside from actually learning the stuff, work on persentaion and debate skills. Alot of this is debating over a theory and if you can't effectively communicate your thoughts, it won't be pretty. (I have this problem ;D)

[timo]

1) How do I know I have any sort of talent/ability for science/mathematics? I mean I've gotten good marks in high school so far (general science: 95ish, Math, 90ish) but I mean I doubt those are good indicators. It's more a matter of working hard than having any innate ability. Whatever I do I like to challenge myself, achieve something that would be difficult for others. How do I know I'm capable of this in the science field?

Well, a few random thoughts that come to my mind here. Note: I'll say "physics and/or math" a lot. While I do have some experiences with mathematics the stuff below primarily is from my experiences with physics.

 

1) If you are not amongst the top say 10% in math in your school then -provided an average school, not some elite school- you might be up to starting out as one of the worst when you start studying mathematics or physics in university. My personal experience is that most of the people I started studying physics with were among the top-5 in their school - 50% dropped during the first two years (but the old German system might have been somewhat rough compared to other countries, I think). That said (perhaps as a warning), I have a colleague who is doing a PhD over some really nasty theoretical physics who told me he wasn't really good at math is school (although I never asked him what exactly he means by that). So school grades do (of course) not say anything definite - but I think they are an indicator.

 

2) Talking about school grades: Unless you completely suck at physics (you don't seem to) the math grades are probably more important than the physics grades - even for aiming to study physics (for math that statement is a no-brainer, of course).

 

3) As a matter of fact, some natural ability to do physics or math is probably helpful for studying it - some intuition is certainly also required. But to my experience, working hard and challenging yourself has a higher weight (compared to natural skill) in university than in school. So in that respect you seem like a very suitable candidate for studying physics or math.

 

4) I do not advice to do physics because you find the sci-fi like topics that you hear about in the media to be cool, i.e. uncertainty, additional dimensions, wormholes, time travel, ... . If you are interested in understanding how things work and particularly if you are interested in figuring out (even when it involves at lot of hard and sometimes dull work) how things work, then that is a good motivation. If then, later, you find that the particular things you are interested in are wormholes, time travel, ... that is also fine. From my experience (as a physicist) interest in the methodology is more important than interest in a particular topic. I personally do not care too much about the actual topic but about the fun of working on it - for me almost anything is fun as soon as you dig deep enough (and still are not so far over your head that you don't make any progress).

 

5) Depending how serious your interest in physics is -and also depending on your parents' monetary situation- actual physics textbooks might be an alternative to finding info on websites. I am talking about into-courses to university physics and I really mean 1st semester books, not "introduction to quantum mechanics" or "introduction to string theory". Don't get too excited about that - it is just a random thought of mine. But if you are really interested in learning physics (beyond what you already do at school) then reading and (partly) understanding 1st semester books might be feasible (don't be worried if you try and don't understand anything). You are not in a hurry anyways and hopefully actually like reading such books and applying what you learned to exercises or self-imposed problems. You should probably not try this with mathematics except perhaps linear algebra. Note to other sfn-members: If you disagree on this point then please state it, I am merely proposing something that just came to my mind, here.

 

Related to point 4: Why are you interested in physics, actually? I know it is quite a hard question to answer (in fact, I couldn't have answered it when I started studying it - I probably just wasn't) but I'd be interested to know.

[Protein]

I live in Canada and at least in my area high-schools don't offer any sort of Advanced Placement or Honors courses.

 

Why am I interested in physics? That is a tough question to answer. I'm interested in all forms of science but physics has definitely stood out for me. For one part I love problem-solving and critical-thinking which math relates to. I always wonder how things work, why they work, what makes them work, etc. Not "things" but rather the world as a whole. Physics seems like it applies to the world around me more than other forms of science (I know this may not be true, but I relate more to physics than other branches). Whenever physics have been done in school it has also inspired and motivated me. I want to go beyond what we are learning and digest as much information as I can. I just find it fascinating. I am also interested in a lot of the philosophical concepts behind astronomy. I see physics as a part of the philosophy. What the universe is, where our race is going, where the universe will end up, etc. I don't know if these are the right reasons but I would definitely say these reasons are different than "Oh my gosh science-fiction is so cool I'm going into physics."

[CharonY]

1) How do I know I have any sort of talent/ability for science/mathematics? I mean I've gotten good marks in high school so far (general science: 95ish, Math, 90ish) but I mean I doubt those are good indicators. It's more a matter of working hard than having any innate ability. Whatever I do I like to challenge myself, achieve something that would be difficult for others. How do I know I'm capable of this in the science field?

 

Talent is extremely overrated. The single most important trait is probably persistence. Being fascinated by a subject helps to maintain it. The rest is just hard work (as in any other job). For that it is important to realize what science really entails (as opposed to romanticized versions of it).

[toastywombel]

Talent is extremely overrated. The single most important trait is probably persistence. Being fascinated by a subject helps to maintain it. The rest is just hard work (as in any other job). For that it is important to realize what science really entails (as opposed to romanticized versions of it).

 

I would argue that talent is overrated to a certain degree, there are some people who are born with some gift, and are far more intelligent with minimal effort, than 99.99% of the population.

 

Furthermore, one could argue that persistence is a talent. But you are right the vast majority of the time persistence is the key. One can be the smartest in the world, if he/she does not have the will to apply that intelligence it is wasted.

[CharonY]

here are some people who are born with some gift, and are far more intelligent with minimal effort, than 99.99% of the population.

 

I am not sure whether that is true. Those who are labeled geniuses put a heck of a lot of time into the area that interests them. They are more likely to be more intelligent than average. however they also put a disproportionate amount of time into it. I have yet to meet a single person in the science field who is able to do what he/she does without effort. To most it just appears to be effortless. Even Mozart had to work hard....

[Mr Skeptic]

For myself, my favorite learning system is generalizations that can be applied to specific circumstances. Others prefer to learn facts. But my learning method gives me a huge advantage to learning physics. I did not, as far as I know, choose this learning method, so I'd say I was born with this "gift" for physics.

[hermanntrude]

I live in Canada and at least in my area high-schools don't offer any sort of Advanced Placement or Honors courses.

 

Why am I interested in physics? That is a tough question to answer. I'm interested in all forms of science but physics has definitely stood out for me. For one part I love problem-solving and critical-thinking which math relates to. I always wonder how things work, why they work, what makes them work, etc. Not "things" but rather the world as a whole. Physics seems like it applies to the world around me more than other forms of science (I know this may not be true, but I relate more to physics than other branches). Whenever physics have been done in school it has also inspired and motivated me. I want to go beyond what we are learning and digest as much information as I can. I just find it fascinating. I am also interested in a lot of the philosophical concepts behind astronomy. I see physics as a part of the philosophy. What the universe is, where our race is going, where the universe will end up, etc. I don't know if these are the right reasons but I would definitely say these reasons are different than "Oh my gosh science-fiction is so cool I'm going into physics."

 

I teach chemistry at a college in Canada, and I also have family members at high-school and I have noticed (more than once) that advanced science students in Canada are severly understimulated. All I can say is try to have patience, jump through the stupid-hoops they want you to jump through, pay attention to every detail (because sometimes you WILL learn something), and look forward to the days when things get harder. Meanwhile, work on your study skills. I often encounter students who have gone through high-school with little or no effort and really start to struggle when they get to the point where they have to work hard to keep up. Perhaps you could study something you don't find easy, just as an exercise in study-skills?