4 Valuable Life Skills Gained From Learning Physics

Physics teaches you the ways of the natural world, so it’s possible to flourish outside of the classroom and laboratory. It gives students benefits that last a lifetime, by equipping students with skills and knowledge that are greatly valued in our everyday lives.

In Singapore, your earliest educational encounter with Physics most probably started as early as in primary school – even though it was taught in a general matter with all other Sciences. The moment you enter secondary school marks your official start of learning Physics! If you want to refresh your perspective on studying this subject, especially when things get hard, perhaps you can think about how it grooms you into a matured individual instead. Here are some life skills you can gain from studying Physics!

Personal time-management

During Physics practical examination, students are left to work independently on their given task - just them, the apparatus, a brief and a set of questions to complete in a limited time frame. If given a chance to observe the state of the laboratory, you’d notice that everyone works differently. As such, practical teaches students to go with their own pace of work while monitoring the time so students can organise the process of doing and answering questions.

As we navigate through school life, juggling the different subjects and looming deadlines, the ability to manage your time effectively is essential. Furthermore, internalising the fact that everyone moves at different paces would help ease the load off your shoulders, especially if you tend to compare yourself to others in an unhealthy manner.

Independent learning

To fully grasp concepts and definitions, you might find that you would develop the ability to teach yourself - but this does not mean refusing help from your physics tutor or school teacher. It refers to the experience gained when searching for and digesting information from various sources such as lectures, other people, tuition notes, past examination papers and more.

This skill teaches us that not everything will be handed to us on a silver platter. Sometimes, if we want something, we need to take the initiative to work towards it! At times, it may even mean signing up for Physics tuition to ensure you have a good grasp over the concepts to prepare for future exams. Though it may not be as smooth sailing, the amount of effort and time put in will be worth it in the end.

Ability to interpret

In theory, there are some questions which ask students to form a hypothesis based on the limited information given. Students would then have to apply their contextual knowledge as they try to understand and interpret the data.

Being able to interpret knowledge and data helps in understanding what you learn, in subjects like Physics, History, and the like. It also enables you to shine in other areas such as Mathematics, which in turn, benefits your Physics learning as well!

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is loosely defined as the capability to solve problems and make decisions. In classrooms or during JC Physics Tuition, the exposure to challenging Physics questions stimulate critical thinking skills in students. Adding on, the introduction of research-based learning is one of the key factors behind the development of students’ critical thinking.

In this day and age, we’re constantly being exposed to information. As a student, having the skill to ascertain the reliability and trustworthiness of our cited sources is a useful tool that helps in both our education and daily lives.

Conclusion

We’ve barely scratched the surface because there are so much more skills one can gain from Physics learning. Physics teaches us values that go beyond what textbooks can teach, which makes those with a Physics background attractive to future employers. By being aware of them, you’d be able to capitalise on your strengths when in school and in the workplace.