How I Learn: Socratic Style

I do physics like Socrates. I am a discussion-based thinker who learned the Dobbler Effect not as f’=f(v sound +/- v observer / v sound +/- v source) but rather as the relationship between sound and observer. I learned the force of a spring not as F_s=-kx but rather as a directly proportional relationship. I learned intensity not as I = E/4pir² but rather as the proportion of energy per unit of 3D space.

I recalled the early months of freshman year when I sat in on my brother’s college quantum physics class. Even though I understood only every other word, I was excited by the revelation that math was more than arithmetic. When the professor discussed electron spin, once abstract ideas like sine and cosine started to make sense. When the professor discussed the Pauli Equation, pointless methods like calculating limits started to seem valuable. When the professor presented the ideas behind quantum theory in terms of Max Planck’s life, math and history – once disconnected – began to correlate.

Pondering the role of chemistry in the world around me transformed my perception of reality. I began to focus on the macroscopic rather than the microscopic. A couch was no longer a place to sit but rather a vibrating mass of microscopic particles. I was constantly intrigued by the simplest of questions, such as why the steam from the shower rose in a spiral motion or why the air above the turf field appeared to be moving on a hot day. I found myself coming to school early to inquire about the science behind my daily life. I had to know why the water we drank was clean regardless of musty pipes, and how x-rays showed only bones. I approached my chemistry teacher during my free period for additional reading material that we discussed weekly. I discovered that atoms were not simply atoms, nor light simply light: the properties of both overlapped.

I took my first advanced physics class in junior year and spent free periods doodling suspension bridges and circuits on my notebook. I made my own summer plans for the first time. I signed up for Operation Catapult, an engineering program at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. Mechanical engineering consumed me, and I found myself eager to seize the opportunity to use a wind tunnel. The first week I panicked. What am I doing? Where do I start? What equations do I even use?  But then I realized that it was okay to be confused. It was okay to not know what I was doing, because that is what experimental research is all about. Textbooks only served as resources; the real knowledge came when I derived my own equations. So, I still spent the next couple of weeks scratching my head, but I began asking the basic, yet critical questions – What variables does it test? What can I compare the results from the wind tunnel to? How do I put the drag to lift coefficients in dimensionless form? For the first time, I could see a future for myself; I could see myself doing experimental research. It is where I can find meaning through question and discovery.

The Socratic method is my style. I’m all about inquiry, analyzing, discussing.