The Value of Good Science Education

In popular media, subjects like quantum mechanics, relativity, thermodynamics, and others are treated with a kind of reverence. They’re portrayed as fields that only geniuses can understand. Despite this reputation, I think anyone, regardless of their background, can comprehend the concepts behind mind-blowing physics. And not only can you understand these concepts, but you should! Learning deep facts of nature can give you a better understanding of the world around us, increase your appreciation for the sciences, and help you develop novel ways of thinking and solving problems. Here, I want to explain the thought process I use when producing educational content, share some ideas for making more engaging material, and give advice to seek out high quality educational media. Both content creators and aspiring learners should find some value here.

Although people might not have the math background to study complicated science in a classroom, there are always ways to explain physics using a combination of analogies, visualizations, and qualitative descriptions. First off, I think it’s valuable to start off any lesson by describing an experiment. Some of the best professors I’ve had in college motivated their lectures through a historical lens. What led scientists in the past to come to the conclusions they did, and where do the relevant equations actually come from? When physics is presented as mathematical mush, it’s impossible to follow. Drowning in a sea of equations is the fastest way to lose one’s engagement with the material. By providing the context for a discovery, an instructor gives the student a concrete reason to learn. Then, to actually describe the physics, scientific visualizations are an incredibly powerful tool. As the saying goes, a picture can be worth a thousand words. Using diagrams and especially videos can concretely show how a process works and tactfully break it up into smaller parts. Oftentimes, it’s helpful to avoid jargon at first and focus on the fundamental picture. Try to distill the core concept behind a phenomenon down into an idea that you can express in a few lines. If your instructional setting requires getting into the mathematical weeds, things will often click into place much more easily if you can convey the core ideas at play first. With a picture in mind, a student can make connections with previous material they’ve learned - physics is all about connections! Visualizations can also simply look intriguing. Wowing students draws them in further, and many of us joined this field precisely because of the sense of wonder we feel learning something new.

A GIF showing the difference between phase and group velocity. For example, the green dots might represent the speed of a swelling wave in the ocean while the red dots represent the speed of the currents that make it up. Somewhat counterintuitively, these speeds can be different, and in some cases, even opposite! Credit: Wikimedia Commons user Kraaiennest, CC BY-SA 4.0

In the last few years, there has been a revolution in science education through YouTube and other video sharing platforms. Content creators from around the world produce high quality, informative, and engaging content accessible to everyone. More recently, I’ve noticed a sharp increase in the supply of and demand for advanced physics content. People seemingly crave deep qualitative explanations of the physics behind quantum mechanics, particle physics, relativity, and even string theory. Some of the new wave of content is in the style of a lecture, with mathematical rigor applied. However, some of the most incredible pieces I’ve seen tell compelling and emotional stories, whether it be through the perspective of an individual scientist or by cleverly guiding the viewer to feel as though they’re discovering the concepts themselves. The physics community needs to start taking cues from these innovative channels. In a field that has for decades struggled with student retention, how is it that content creators working alone or in small groups can draw in millions of people who actively seek to learn the exact same concepts? Part of this discrepancy is attributable to the low commitment required to watch a YouTube video compared to enrolling in a college course. Still, I think this reflects the failure of formal physics education to adapt to the modern world. Many of my peers who find their lectures tedious and boring voraciously consume videos on the same topics. We’ve been fed a standardized, greywashed view of the physics landscape in many courses.

I’ve been lucky to have a few professors who implement unique and innovative techniques in their class, and with this perspective I can say that it makes a huge difference. For example, Professor Alex Burant heavily emphasized the use of “spacetime diagrams” in the special relativity portion of my Modern Physics course. Spacetime diagrams are a fascinating visual tool which can intuitively display the physical origin of some bizarre phenomena. Being able to see why length contraction and time dilation happen was a mindblowing and uplifting feeling - one I wouldn’t have gotten if I was instead bogged down in memorizing Lorentz transformations. I still had to learn the same equations that any other student would, but by interleafing visualizations throughout his lectures, Professor Burant motivated me to dig deeper and engage with the material.

An animated spacetime diagram shows the transformed frame of an observer moving at different speeds relative to the rest frame. Credit: Wikimedia Commons user Calebqcook, CC BY-SA 4.0

By portraying physics as cryptic and unintuitive, we miss out on the vast benefits that high quality science education offers. When fields of physics are perceived as boring by the public, future scientists switch careers. Keeping the public interested leads to better funding, increased scientific literacy, and a culture of learning. I believe that, as scientists, it is our obligation to share the fruits of our labor with the world. Our ultimate goal should be to expand the horizons of knowledge for the good of humankind. Secondly, including good qualitative explanations in instruction is the best way to make sure that students actually comprehend what’s being taught. When a student lacks intuition in a subject, it can be dangerously easy for them to slip into a state of memorization and regurgitation. Churning through tedious math is not the core of what research physicists (usually) do. High level science requires creativity and problem solving, two skills that are underemphasized in current curricula. On the other hand, high quality science teaching can inspire us and help us develop new ways of thinking. Even if you’re outside of a classroom setting, I encourage you to sample some of the amazing science content on YouTube and other platforms. Engaging with great content can be a significant step towards growing as a lifelong learner! To get you started, here are some of my favorite YouTube science and math channels:

Physics/Astronomy: PBS Space Time, Improbable Matter, ScienceClic, Minutephysics, Eugene Khutoryansky

Math: Morphocular, Stand-up Maths, 3Blue1Brown, Eigenchris, Numberphile

General Science: Bobby Broccoli, Vsauce, NileRed, Steve Mould, Veritasium

And of course, I have to shout out Active Galactic, the channel I contribute to. Check it out if you’re interested, and thanks for reading!