Physics for Physics Majors
For my first honors experience, I took physics for physics majors semesters one and two.
I went into this course thinking it would be a breeze for me because I love physics and have never really struggled with anything math-related. I was wrong! This class was a little bit of a slap in the face that said "this is what it means to work to understand material." Being home schooled my entire life, I had no idea really how to study in a classroom setting or how to study with peers. I found my classmates seemed to easily grasp material while I had to really work to understand it. But I studied my hardest and learned fairly quickly how important it is to study with peers because each person has a different way of learning new material and processing information. I ended up with an A- first semester, and an A the second, thanks to hard work and the support of my classmates, professor (if you have a chance to take a class taught by F. Paul Esposito, do!), and family. On more than one occasion I lost my fairly consistent cool and called my mother slightly panicky about material I was having trouble grasping. In the end, I have a strong understanding of the material and have rekindled my love for physics. Taking this class definitely reminded me why I'm doing what I'm doing.
In the future, I hope to use what I have learned in this class to not only progress in my major but also to function well working in and with groups. I never considered giving up, and although it was a struggle watching my classmates either breeze through or drop out of the program all together, I did my best to perservere and am so proud of myself for doing it.
For my artifacts, I've included two pretty silly pictures that were taken during study sessions. I had never in my life studied with peers, and I can't imagine going through this class, or any math related class in the future, without the support of a group as well as being able to support others.
I went into this course thinking it would be a breeze for me because I love physics and have never really struggled with anything math-related. I was wrong! This class was a little bit of a slap in the face that said "this is what it means to work to understand material." Being home schooled my entire life, I had no idea really how to study in a classroom setting or how to study with peers. I found my classmates seemed to easily grasp material while I had to really work to understand it. But I studied my hardest and learned fairly quickly how important it is to study with peers because each person has a different way of learning new material and processing information. I ended up with an A- first semester, and an A the second, thanks to hard work and the support of my classmates, professor (if you have a chance to take a class taught by F. Paul Esposito, do!), and family. On more than one occasion I lost my fairly consistent cool and called my mother slightly panicky about material I was having trouble grasping. In the end, I have a strong understanding of the material and have rekindled my love for physics. Taking this class definitely reminded me why I'm doing what I'm doing.
In the future, I hope to use what I have learned in this class to not only progress in my major but also to function well working in and with groups. I never considered giving up, and although it was a struggle watching my classmates either breeze through or drop out of the program all together, I did my best to perservere and am so proud of myself for doing it.
For my artifacts, I've included two pretty silly pictures that were taken during study sessions. I had never in my life studied with peers, and I can't imagine going through this class, or any math related class in the future, without the support of a group as well as being able to support others.