[Kamikaze]

(09-30-2015 11:20 PM)PolymathGuru Wrote:  

(09-30-2015 09:45 PM)Wutang Wrote:  

(09-30-2015 05:32 PM)StarcraftGG Wrote:  

Wutang, can you please be more specific as to why you want to become more educated in science? It would help me formulate a better answer to your question.

For personal enrichment mostly. I don't really have any plans to make it into my way to earn my bread but I'm open to all possibilities.

I'm very much into philosophy which is something that I've studied a lot on my own and I thought that learning more about the natural sciences would complement that knowledge. I feel like a lot of the humanities you can get far from just reading on your own but I'm not so sure with the natural sciences so I wanted to hear other people's views.

Then I would still advise from my previous statement. You can always pick up older editions of text books. You'll find the majority of learning comes from a text book and not a professor. Professors come in two flavors, they tend to be either PhD students who teaching because they have to and aren't very useful. Or a researcher who is doing it because they have to and don't really care. That is at least regarding the early science classes.

I agree with PolyMath completely above, which is another reason the online courses are so great. For the most part, the online courses are well-designed courses that have garnered rave reviews from students. By well-designed I mean that the materials go beyond a textbook. They give exercises and problem sets with clear instructions, and eventually solutions. They are so clearly taught that, even though they're a lot of work and you have to be very organized, a monkey can do them. And don't feel bad about taking a course online and feel like you're missing out. Certain introductory courses can be taught to hundreds of students at a time. The only type of personalized attention you'll be missing compared to those elite institutions is that they'll have teaching assistants holding the undergrad's hands all along the course, shortening those critical feedback loops I was talking about. Other than that, for big classes with 700+ students, there's really almost no difference to sitting there taking it versus watching the videos online.

It used to be that access to education was a big issue because you were completely limited to Mr. Johnson or Mrs. Smith, the teachers who stopped caring about teaching 20 years ago. And that was that. I remember I had a teacher in high school who taught calculus when I was a Junior. First day of class she says "You know when you take class in a university, you're responsible for the material and for doing homework. So, though you will have homework assignments, I will not be checking homework or correcting it. It is your responsibility to learn the material."

My reaction?

At the end of the year right as we were heading to the AP exam, the same teacher told me "Kamikaze, you're one of my only hopes to get a good score on this test." I almost laughed in her face and told her "You're in for a surprise." I ended up getting a 1 (out of 5). For the record, only one girl got a 2, everyone else got a 1 out of 20+ people. Also for the record, the next year I took Calculus BC online and got a 5. Bitch checked my homework 3000 miles away through the magic of scanning technology. Go figure.

That's the difference between access to good and bad teachers. Good teachers are on your shit, and provide good materials to practice and explain. But now we have access to the best educators, at 0.5x if you don't understand, or 1.5x-2x if it's an easy topic. As a side-note, playing videos at 1.5x is a godsend for ADD types like me, because it actually helps me focus immensely on the message. it keeps me engaged, and squeezes as much as possible into my short 30-45 minute attention span.

Textbooks generally are obfuscating and don't provide solutions to answers because they want to sell you the solutions manual at the same price as the book. Textbook writers don't always write for clarity, and even so, some topics are not easily explained with just words and pictures.

Online courses with good problem sets and exams with their corresponding solutions are the greatest hack in education in our lifetime. Compared to our parents, we had computers... compared to us, our kids will have access to the best teachers and materials out there, almost for free, period. I wonder how long this model will last, actually.

So yea, if you're just looking to learn about science for personal fulfillment, that should be easy. For some things even Khan Academy is alright, but I'm not a huge fan. Just find free courses, including MIT, Stanford, Harvard, etc. Say what you will about schools like that, but they often have the most brilliant scientists and educators in the world. Check out reviews and you can choose which classes will be worth it or not.