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Sigal Tifferet
Kfar Vitkin
Israel

Senior Lecturer, Ruppin Academic Center

TED Translator Associate Language Coordinator

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How can a talented teenager prepare himself for a scientific career? What do you scientists recommend? (Personal experiences, please).

My son is 16 years old and is very interested in science (Physics, Biology, Math). He would like to hear your recommendations on how to prepare for a scientific career. Is this a critical period to learn things that will be difficult to learn later? Are there non-academic experiences he should try? We are especially interested in personal experiences of all of you scientists out there.

Let me add that my son (Alon) is the one who nudged me a few times to post this question. He studies at a democratic school, meaning that he has full freedom to do whatever he pleases with his time at school. A big portion of his choices are science-related, but he does other things as well (basketball, juggling).

Related Talks:

Topics: Teenagers education science

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Nicholas Lukowiak 50+
- +1
May 5 2011: These comments so far are really good, I hope you are saving them on a document, they are good tips for free. I am no where near studying those 3 subjects however my biggest interest is education and I have found remarkable websites on education that are relative to these subjects. Science/math is almost entirely academic, it is difficult to find hands on work. And to add on to Gerry's list: join an academic fraternity, partake in science fairs (enter or network), find friends doing the exact/close to the same fields, and again never stop being curious. Try to add some art to your work!

The following is for anyone curious:

Science/Free online lectures in all subjects: http://academicearth.org/
http://www.panomatics.net/theundividedmind/?6b2ecab8
http://www.khanacademy.org/
http://worldsciencefestival.com

Math: http://www.equationsheet.com/
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

A suggestion to peak curiosity: figure out what you have to do to start studying Dark Matter.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504784_162-20058382-10391705.html
- Sigal Tifferet 500+
  - 0
  TED Translator Associate Language Coordinator
  
  May 7 2011: Alon: Thank you for the links. Two that I liked especially were the link with the room, and the room with the film, although it is very fast. I know the Khan academy, I am now learning organic chemistry there.
  - Nicholas Lukowiak 50+
    
    +2
    May 18 2011: Hey Alon,
    
    Lately I have been studying cognitive science. This field is blowing up and is going to be more and more valuable as time goes on.
    
    This field is great for a few reasons. It is very open-ended in a lot of respects, it involves many fields of study to work with, and it is very interesting!
    
    Tell me what you think upon research of the cognitive science:
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_scientist
    http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/index.html
    http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cognitive-science/#Rul
    http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Cognitive_science
    
    Even if it is not what you choose to study it is interesting to read about and keep up with.
    - Sigal Tifferet 500+
      
      0
      
      TED Translator Associate Language Coordinator
      
      May 25 2011: Alon: Thanks. I will look it up later.

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