Science research

Solving problems in physical sciences or in mathematics can cause great difficulty for some students. If you feel the same way, maybe the steps below might help. You might up to now have been learning from your teacher how to ‘do’ a particular question and then finding yourself stuck when you come across a new one with a slight variation. What you need to develop is a general way of dealing with mathematical problems in science, so that you won’t be dependent on any one set of questions.

Never leave a blank space! Even if you “can’t do the question”, you can carry out most of the steps below, and quite often you’ll find the answer in the process. You can’t give up until you’ve tried these steps. Practice them, so you can do them quickly.

Read the question twice. Get the gist of what it’s about. Understand what is being asked of you. Read it again more slowly. Find out what information you are given. If there are specific values given, give them a name, and a symbol and write them down as you find them. Look for hidden information. Read again if necessary. Sometimes there is information ‘in disguise’ where there is no obvious quantity but careful reading will give you a value. For example, ‘a particle, starts from rest’, in other words the initial velocity is equal to zero. Get the idea?What do you need to find out? Again, give it a name and a symbol.Brainstorm. What science do you know that’s relevant to the problem? Any laws or principles you can connect to the problem?Brainstorm for any formulae you know, containing the symbols listed in front of you. See what quantities you know in the formula. Choose the ones with the most values from your list of ‘givens’. If there’s more than one unknown, brainstorm for more formulae with this unknown and the given values in the problem. You will eventually find a formula with one unknown. Plan your question. Don’t just blindly put values into a formula and hope for the best. Think ‘If I get this, then I can get this and finally…’ Have some idea where you’re going with the problem.Still stuck? Read the question again. Is there anything – a value, a phrase – that you haven’t used yet? There’s usually a reason for all parts of the question. If you haven’t used it think about how you could use it.Have you drawn a diagram? Would one help?When finished, write the answer again with a box around it. Check the question again. Anything left out? Check your units. Check if the answer makes sense.

Keep these tips to hand for a while you work on problems. Soon they will become a habit and you will find many problems you couldn’t solve before will start to make sense.

By: Steve Bracken

Tags: Blank Space, Disguise, Formulae, Gist, Hidden Information, Initial Velocity, Mathematical Problems, Mathematics, Particle, Physical Science, Physical Sciences, Problem Solving, Quantities, Science Problem, Solving Problems, Variation