Science bores me

[financeguy]

I was very good at science at school. Extremely good. Shit hot, in fact. Mind you, I was good at everything academic at school, but at science, I was so far ahead of most people in the class (with one or two exceptions), it was just embarassing (for everyone else). Yet I didn't study science at university (when I say school, by the way, I mean secondary school, i.e. what is called 'high school' in the US. School does not equal college or university). I also have a few relations in the medicine and science field.

Bought a introduction to geology book two years ago. Still haven't read it. It's an area of science that interests me - but, let's face it, perhaps not as much as I thought it did, otherwise I would have read the damn book.

I know there are a few scientists on here - and I'm intrigued.

What is it that 'turns you on' about science? I do strongly suspect that it is downright the best possible career in the world - if you have BOTH the aptitude AND the interest. If you don't have both - I suspect - it's just a job, like any other. I had the aptitude... but it didn't quite grab me in the way it does some people. Even though I actually had some pretty good science teachers at school.

I've never quite had that interest.....wish I did.

 

[MooMoo!]

I like biology cos in effect, Im learning about me.

I still fucking suck at it though.

 

[Galeongirl]

I like (and study) chemistry, cause I like to blow things up

 

[LemonMelon]

I've always been good at science and love it. It fascinates me.

 

[kafrun]

I like (and study) chemistry, cause I like to blow things up

win.

I actually hated science and was no good at it throughout elementary and high school. The massage therapy program I went through in college was very clinical and science-heavy, so I found when I was able to apply it to something tangible, I really excelled in it and was fascinated by it.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I am so not a science girl. In fact, at the moment I am enrolled in an anthropology course which is beginning with very heavy emphasis on the orgins of man and the sciences that deal with evolution, etc. I want to pull my fucking hair out, I hate it so much.

 

[kafrun]

I am so not a science girl. In fact, at the moment I am enrolled in an anthropology course which is beginning with very heavy emphasis on the orgins of man and the sciences that deal with evolution, etc. I want to pull my fucking hair out, I hate it so much.

OMG, I took a couple anthropology courses and I absolutely loved them. I'd go so far as to say it was life changing in ways. If I wasn't doing what I do now, I would've persued my PhD in the subject. It really helped that I had a teacher who was genuinely passionate about it and related it to current events and issues.

A truly great prof makes all the difference.

 

[A_Wanderer]

I was very good at science at school. Extremely good. Shit hot, in fact. Mind you, I was good at everything academic at school, but at science, I was so far ahead of most people in the class (with one or two exceptions), it was just embarassing (for everyone else). Yet I didn't study science at university (when I say school, by the way, I mean secondary school, i.e. what is called 'high school' in the US. School does not equal college or university). I also have a few relations in the medicine and science field.

Bought a introduction to geology book two years ago. Still haven't read it. It's an area of science that interests me - but, let's face it, perhaps not as much as I thought it did, otherwise I would have read the damn book.

I know there are a few scientists on here - and I'm intrigued.

What is it that 'turns you on' about science? I do strongly suspect that it is downright the best possible career in the world - if you have BOTH the aptitude AND the interest. If you don't have both - I suspect - it's just a job, like any other. I had the aptitude... but it didn't quite grab me in the way it does some people. Even though I actually had some pretty good science teachers at school.

I've never quite had that interest.....wish I did.

It is the reasoning that interests me with geology, to pull together the disparate facts into a cohesive explanation. Getting the answer is the end reward, but there needs to be that incentive to reach that point.

More recently I have been finding the philosophy of science more interesting than the actual results, breaking down both the process of scientific investigation, making sense of what results actually mean and the implications of results.

 

[Galeongirl]

A truly great prof makes all the difference.

I think that's the main factor... at HS I had the coolest chemistry prof ever.. he was mad! in his student times he once blew up a fumebooth with a little experiment.. *snerk* entire school had to be cleared cause he went to get some coffee and they didn't know what was in there!

 

[Laura M]

I am so not a science girl.

I am not a science or a maths girl. Chemistry, physics and maths were my worst subjects. I always did very well in Biology, it was the only science subject I enjoyed and we had a really great teacher. We had a maths and science teacher who sat people in order of their test results. For 2 years I sat at the very front of their classes in the "special seat" right beside their desk. That put me off the subjects even more. It was only shame that made me work harder.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

OMG, I took a couple anthropology courses and I absolutely loved them. I'd go so far as to say it was life changing in ways. If I wasn't doing what I do now, I would've persued my PhD in the subject. It really helped that I had a teacher who was genuinely passionate about it and related it to current events and issues.

A truly great prof makes all the difference.

Yeah, you got lucky because mine sucks! He has assigned the most ridiculous amount of reading I have EVER had for any class I;ve ever taken. For a six week online course.

 

[kafrun]

Yeah, you got lucky because mine sucks! He has assigned the most ridiculous amount of reading I have EVER had for any class I;ve ever taken. For a six week online course.

Craptastic

We didn't do a ton of reading in our courses. Our prof would assign a few pages of textbook reading here and there, but more often than not would give us handouts with the gyst of what she felt it was important to know. Most of the time we were taking notes as she lectured(she made it fascinating because she was so impassioned), watching documentaries, and organizing fundraisers and otherwise getting active in the community and applying what we'd learned to current global issues. She made it all relevant and made me so much more aware of the world.

 

[MooMoo!]

Ever had 2, 3 hour powerpoint presentation lessons a week? FOR A YEAR?

Now thats bad teaching.

 

[corianderstem]

I've never liked science. There've been certain areas I've found ineresting, but as far as the basic science courses I had to take in high school and college ... no thanks.

In high school, I put off chemistry until my senior year - it was a required course. I loved my teacher, and breezed through all the classroom stuff involving equations.

But the second I set foot into the lab, all my brains went out the window. Everything was such a foreign concept to me, and I really struggled to do lab stuff on my own. Thank goodness my lab partner knew what he was doing.

At my college, for my BA degree, we had to take two science courses, one of which had to be a lab science. I went for the easiest lab course there was: geology. It was pretty dull, but it was preferable to taking anything else.

As far as math goes, I only took the bare minimum of what was required. I was very good at it, but I hated it. Thank god I tested out of the math requirement in college, so I avoided that pile of yuck.

 

[Laura M]

Ever had 2, 3 hour powerpoint presentation lessons a week? FOR A YEAR?

Now thats bad teaching.

Is this for science? Didn't youse do any experiments? That's the only fun bit

I've only had the chance to use PPT a few times but it makes life so much easier.

 

[MooMoo!]

We did some experiments, but dear lord, you do NOT learn from Power point all the time. T_T Although, it does help you sleep.

The history teacher did the same thing, I ended up leaving the class to do Classical Civilisation insted.

 

[cobl04]

I like (and study) chemistry, cause I like to blow things up

See at school we don't get to blow up shit. The prac we're doing at the moment involves synthesising aspirin from salicylic acid and acetic anhydride, which is a LOT less interesting than it sounds. We don't get to blow anything up. Big misconception I reckon. We got bored last year and coerced our teacher to put a bit of Lithium in water though... and it blew a hole in the roof. That was cool.

Otherwise, I have no idea why I (kind of) like Chemistry, I guess just cos some of the stuff is intersting.

 

[Diemen]

My favorite class that I ever took in school was AP Physics my senior year of high school. I always liked science and was good at it, but physics was always a challenge. I have never had to study harder for any course, including my college courses, and just barely managed to get a B by the end of the year. But, that was my favorite class by far because the teacher was just incredible. Incredibly challenging but incredibly smart, engaging, inquisitive about the world around him and just an all around cool guy who treated you like a peer he wanted to share something really cool with, rather than a student he was merely passing knowledge down to. He built all his own lab experiments, was an avid musician (we spent lots of time talking about piano pieces we were working on), and an amateur astronomer who built his own telescope (with something like a 3' mirror) and planetarium. Many a lunch period was spent in his room talking about whatever interested me/him at the moment.

I wish I'd kept in touch with him. So wherever you are, Mr. Mathis, thanks!

 

[Galeongirl]

See at school we don't get to blow up shit. The prac we're doing at the moment involves synthesising aspirin from salicylic acid and acetic anhydride, which is a LOT less interesting than it sounds. We don't get to blow anything up. Big misconception I reckon. We got bored last year and coerced our teacher to put a bit of Lithium in water though... and it blew a hole in the roof. That was cool.

Otherwise, I have no idea why I (kind of) like Chemistry, I guess just cos some of the stuff is intersting.

Good LUCK with that! that practicum fails a lot of times!

if you think lithium is amusing, try Frankium... only a milligram in a bathtub of water..... well, search Brainiac Alkalimetals on youtube to find out
we do some interesting stuff, we made glass last time, that was pretty cool... and they had standard colours to make, but I wanted purple glass, so they made me find out myself what stuff I needed for that and tah dah, gotr my purple glass!

 

[Lancemc]

Sciencey things fascinate me. Specifically astronomical things and dimentional/time-spacey things.

That said, I'm absolutely horrible at academic physics.