Which is the most important science?

physics because then i can teach biology and chemistry too because they are just applied physics

You were probably half joking, but this is actually true. I think Biology would be so much more interesting at school if it was taught as Biological Physics. Lots of mathematical modeling and quantitative data analysis ( = highly transferable skills) instead of memorising the textbook.

Then we ought to just learn maths and no more

I think probably applied maths (especially statistics) and programming are the two most essential skills we can learn in the sciences right now.

Nah, maths by itself (the way it is currently taught) is not terribly applied. Maths + Physics is the way to go because Physics shows you how to actually use maths (at least it should).

Although there is a proposal to make teaching maths more about questioning and modeling which I personally like very much:
https://www.computerbasedmath.org/

Funnily enough I was going to write a blog post about this today.

But since that is not an issue, I'd say Physics is necessary for our long term survival as a species, to colonise other worlds

At A Level, I did stats and mechanics at a pretty decent level and there were plenty of applications. Without the natural sciences at GCSE, etc. we could learn these skills earlier and develop modelling skills that can be used in other areas.

Oh yes, you are right. I forgot that, in England, mechanics is taught as part of maths. I agree with you on the rest as well, I'd love to have a subject that combines mathematical modeling, data analysis, programming and (you didn't mention this, but I would include it) writing, all combined to answer open-ended questions using real data.

What kind of writing? Sounds like a silly question but I'm not sure what you'd prefer to teach. Sales techniques like copywriting and rhetoric? Scientific and business writing?

Well, I currently refer to it as "quantitative writing". Depending on the question, it would be like "scientific writing" or "data journalism" - or "literate programming", but a bit more fleshed out..

That's an interesting idea that I've never really heard described before.

Well, I'll be at google. Hopefully you've referred to it in your blog

You were probably half joking, but this is actually true. I think Biology would be so much more interesting at school if it was taught as Biological Physics. Lots of mathematical modeling and quantitative data analysis ( = highly transferable skills) instead of memorising the textbook.

Nah, maths by itself (the way it is currently taught) is not terribly applied. Maths + Physics is the way to go because Physics shows you how to actually use maths (at least it should).

i never studied biology beyond GCSE so I don't actually know much about it my answer was indeed a little tongue in cheek, but i think technically speaking it is true. there are no hard and fast boundaries between sciences, and if you repeatedly ask 'but why?' in a biology or chemistry classroom you will eventually end up talking about physics (and, of course, maths)!




Key point emboldened. A-level physics is a pile of crap precisely because the powers that be have decided to separate it from maths in order to make it accessible. The problem is that the concepts they teach you in A-level physics just don't really make sense without the appropriate mathematical tools (which are now missing). I mean really, physics without calculus? What on earth are they thinking? I was chatting to one of the admissions tutors of my School (Physics and Astronomy) a few weeks ago, and he was saying that it's got to the point where they're happy to accept undergraduates who get as low as Cs in physics now so long as their maths is strong enough. The physics you learn at A-level just isn't remotely useful for studying physics at a higher level. Most of my class (mostly physics undergrads) seem to agree.

Strictly speaking though it isn't really true to say the maths you learn at school is not applied: there isn't any pure maths at all unless you take Further Maths, and even then there isn't much. A lot of it doesn't have direct application to an average person's every day life, but I don't think I learned anything in maths A-level that I haven't since used repeatedly in various modules at uni.

yes thank you fellow human being

Very interesting comment, thanks. Yeah, I heard this too about A-Level Physics. Weird that even so, it's still considered one of the "hardest" subjects! I was looking at past papers at one point, and so many marks were given for definitions, it just seemed like it would be really easy.

With maths, I meant more that you learn techniques (e.g. how to get derivatives, how to invert a matrix, how to solve simultaneous equations etc) but although all these techniques are very applicable you rarely go through full modeling problems where you would choose and apply techniques as needed (like e.g. rabbits and foxes, or something more interesting). I think I'm still wrong though, because I forgot that in England you actually teach a lot of physics in maths, and that would necessarily be applied.

I won't disagree... it's perfectly possible I was an arrogant A-level physicist who thought he was better than he was

You were probably half joking, but this is actually true. I think Biology would be so much more interesting at school if it was taught as Biological Physics. Lots of mathematical modeling and quantitative data analysis ( = highly transferable skills) instead of memorising the textbook.