Professional scientists like to pretend that they’re knowledge-producers, but really they’re learners like everyone else. I mean this both in the lofty sense — scientists are students of nature, learning for themselves and for humanity about nature’s inner workings — and in the mundane sense — scientists are people who spend a lot of time reading articles, attending lectures, developing technical skills, and boning up on things they should’ve paid more attention to in college. What this means is this: good scientists are good learners. Scientists pick up technical knowledge efficiently, and that knowledge stays with them for a long time.
This blog is for students. And if you’re a student — specifically a science student, though similar widsom applies to other kinds of students as well — I say this to you: stop thinking of yourself as a student and start thinking of yourself as a scientist. That’s because no one learns science like a scientist, and to learn like a scientist you have to think like a scientist.
What does it mean to think like a scientist? For that you’ll have to read the blog, but for now I’ll just boil it down to three things (and I’m keeping things deliberately abstract and vague for now):
- Buy the material, but let the buyer beware. Before you buy a bike, you spin the wheels, you pinch the tires, you ride it around the block. Before you buy a scientific concept, you should be similarly skeptical. Does it make sense? Does it fit in with everything else you know about how the world works?
- Own — don’t borrow — the material. Once you own a bike, you can add a basket if you need one. You can change the saddle or the gears. You can even take it apart and build a better bike. Same with a scientific concept: if you’re not comfortable applying it, modifying it, and cutting it into logical pieces, it’s not really yours and it’s not really useful.
- Be ready to toss the material when it is irreparably inadequate. It’s what scientists do. If a concept isn’t working for you and can’t be modified to work, it’s time to look for something better. The trick is knowing what’s fixable and what’s beyond hope.
I’ll have more specific tips from time to time, like tricks for memorizing lists of facts, strategies for understanding complicated mechanisms, and advice on interpreting and criticizing data and graphs. It’s all stuff I’ve learned in my life both as a scientist and as a teacher, and it’s stuff that pays off no matter what kind of learner you are.
