• Question: are you a natural problem solver or do you have difficulties?

    Asked by anon-227008 to William, Thibaut "Tibo", Harry, Georgia, Emily, Aimee on 9 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Georgia Orton

      Georgia Orton answered on 9 Nov 2019:

      I have always loved any kind of problem solving! It could be in the lab, getting to the next level in a video game, or fixing something at home.

      Since my job needs a lot of problem solving I get to practice doing it every single day. I think I am naturally quite curious and good at problem solving but I have definitely got much better at it since becoming a scientist.
      Every day is different so I constantly get to learn cool new stuff and find new problems to solve.

    • Photo: Aimee Egglestone

      Aimee Egglestone answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      As a child problem solving really angered me because I struggled to separate facts from assumptions – that was something I have really had to work on as I advanced in my scientific career.

      For example if a question said: “Barry jumps into a pool but doesn’t get wet” I would really struggle to separate the facts: “Pool” and “Jump”; from my assumptions: “Water in the pool”. This sort of thinking is something I really had to work hard at to fix, and is still something I have the odd struggle with. So I would definitely not say I am a natural problem solver – but it is something I have gotten better at!

    • Photo: Thibaut Deviese

      Thibaut Deviese answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      I really like problem solving and I think that’s one of the main reasons why I decided to become a researcher. I like when people come and ask me if I can help, using my chemistry knowledge, to respond to their problem. This made me realise that we really can help answering MANY questions with chemistry.

    • Photo: Emily Sparkes

      Emily Sparkes answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      If I don’t really think about the problem I’m quite a good problem solver- I really love lateral thinking puzzles. However if something goes wrong in the lab it often takes me bouncing ideas off people for a while before I can work out what’s going on. The pressure gets to me and suddenly my brain doesn’t work!

Comments