• Question: Do you think that the education you got has contributed to you research and job a great deal?

    Asked by to Aimee, Chris, Dave, Greig, Laurence on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Aimee Hopper

      Aimee Hopper answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      I think yes, because the school I went to wasn’t the best, and so made me want to achieve the best I could just so I could say that I did well.
      In terms of my research, college affected that the most, as that is where I really developed my love for science 🙂

    • Photo: Laurence Perreault Levasseur

      Laurence Perreault Levasseur answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      If you are talking about university undergrad education, I’d say yes, definitely. I’v always thought about mathematics as being the language to talk about physics, so I look at my undergrad in maths as learning a language that allowed me to be fluent in the research I do everyday. My undergrad in physics (I did 2 undergrad at the same time, because I’m a bit crazy…) didn’t just teach me everything that I know about physics, it also taught me how to solve problems, how to ask the right questions, how ideas developed in the history of physics, and, most importantly, team work and the power of group effort (well, when you are doing 2 undergrads at the same time, there HAS to be some team work involved… 😉 ), and a lot of other things.

      If you are asking about my high school education, it’s harder to tell. Probably yes, but indirectly. In school I did the BI, which is some special program that focuses on making the students better citizens of the world and emphasizes on learning skill to be able to learn better (they called that ‘learning to learn’). A LOT of if was just words for the sake of words, but somehow I think if shaped my view of the world, and gave me some great tools to tackle my higher education. It definitely taught me to be critical, and gave me tools to learn in an independent way (and great words for when the time comes to apply for funding 😉 )

    • Photo: Greig Cowan

      Greig Cowan answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      Yes, definitely. I had really good teachers at school who taught me a lot about science and got me interested in finding out more and more. This made me want to study the subject further at University. It was working in that environment, with everyone else really interested in finding out about how things work at a fundamental level, that made me want to do this sort of research as a career.

    • Photo: Dave Jones

      Dave Jones answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      For sure, without my education I wouldn’t have the basic skills needed to do what I do! Even more than that, it was my education and teachers that showed me how interesting this stuff is, and that clearly influenced my decision to become a scientist!

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