Tutoring to Excel at the Science Subjects Like Physics, Chemistry, Biology & Engineering
Advanced Reading, Maths and Study Skills are Critical
Students of the Sciences such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Engineering require very sophisticated reading and study skills to master the complex content. Understanding the content is not enough however, Science students need excellent Maths skills.
Memory is NOT Enough
Many students approach study with the mistaken belief that learning means remembering a whole bunch of facts by rote, when what is really required is an in-depth understanding of the concepts so that they can be applied to various situations. This misconception means that many students put a lot of effort into unproductive work and so waste much of their time and effort when they are studying. Not only that, but much of what is learned is soon forgotten if the learning has not gone hand-in-hand with understanding – the best way to get good long-term memory of a concept is to understand it deeply first.
Vocabulary Skills
These subjects all contain a lot of specialised vocabulary that must be understood and remembered so students must learn to use effective strategies to deal with all these new words and concepts.
Analytical and Logic Skills
Analysis is the process of breaking complex ideas down into their component parts. Good analytical skills are required in all subjects but are particularly critical when dealing with the abstract concepts in Science subjects. For some strange reason, analytical and logic skills are rarely taught in a systematic way in schools or universities – it seems that students are somehow expected to work them out for themselves. Consequently, many otherwise capable and hard-working students do poorly with their studies because they focus WHAT they are trying to learn rather than having clear strategies for HOW they are going to learn it.
Synthesis
Synthesis is the process of bringing together information into a complex whole so that it can be incorporated into the person’s world view and used in new situations. Essentially it is the process of:
- Turning words into facts by comprehending them,
- Turning the facts into information by organising and summarising them,
- Turning the information into knowledge by incorporating it into previous knowledge,
- Turning the knowledge into a decision-making tool so that it can be applied in other situations and so used to solve problems.
Mathematics Skills are Critical
Many students struggle with Science subjects because they have weaknesses in their Maths skills. A common weakness is getting confused with the units when working out problems.
Getting What You Know OUT When You Need It
With knowledge, it is not what you can get into your head that matters, it is what you can get out – in other words, what you can communicate effectively to others in written, visual or spoken form. Far too many students spend nearly all their time trying to get information in without ever thinking about HOW they are going to get it out again so writing essays is a slow and laborious process for them. Study and Essay Writing should be treated as complementary processes.
Basic Reading Problems are a Big Cause of Failure
Many students with poor reading skills gravitate to Maths and Science subjects because there is not as much reading in these subjects. However, many students avoid reading their textbooks altogether – they just work through the problems and try to remember the patterns. This can work for a year or so but does not work in the long term. Unless the reading problems are fixed, or suitable techniques used to compensate for the problem, students will find it harder and harder to succeed in these subjects.
The Best Time to Fix Science and Engineering Study Skills Is Now
We provide expert one-to-one Science and Engineering tutoring in your home using the internet or at our office in Adelaide, South Australia.