• Question: Physics has always been a main stuggle for me what advice would you say to give me a much clearer view on the subject?

    Asked by nunu96 to Peta on 17 Nov 2011.
    • Photo: Peta Foster

      Peta Foster answered on 17 Nov 2011:

      Hmm… this is a wonderful question. I myself struggle with certain areas of physics and i find that the only real approach is to exposure yourself to as many explanations of the same thing as possible. When i was at university they taught the subject in a very academic way…. giving you a single text and hoping you’d just ‘get it’. To be honest this didn’t work for me at all and almost put me off the subject, however there is so much available today that i am relearning areas i found hard at uni by exposing myself to them in many different ways.

      So what different ways are available… well you have books as per the norm, you have you tube…. i love youtube!… you have wikipedia which is good but you always be checked for accuracy as i have seen hacked before… you have access to programs like this where you can ask scientists things… you can use online lectures done by world experts (who are also good lecturers more importantly) like the lectures by Walter Lewin.

      Seriously if you only take away one thing it is… Walter Lewin… he explains things beautifully. Then while you watch the lectures (I chill on the sofa with some chocolates and a nice drink to water some) remember you can pause it… look something up you don’t understand… cruise a few web sites, you tube vids, vimeos, etc and then when you have a better feel come back to the lecture… this way you you control the pace you learn at.

      Also remember that we all learn in different ways and if you don’t understand something then it just means you learn differently to how you are receiving the information… but now there are many different sources out there so keep persevering because all those great physicists and mathematicians that have achieved sucess all say that it is hard and it took them a while to understand and they are no different to anyone else… they just persevered. 😀 So there is no shame in saying you don’t understand and asking someone to explain it differently.

      So MIT lectures are great, Walter Lewin is great and also this is a link to some great online tutorials in things.. keep persevering… the magic is worth it 😀

      http://www.khanacademy.org/

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