• Question: how did you become smart

    Asked by anon-190691 to Matt, Maia, Liam, Dionne, Brendan on 15 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Dionne Turnbull

      Dionne Turnbull answered on 15 Nov 2018:

      There is still lots and lots that I don’t know!

      I worked really hard at school and university to get where I am. But I think the most important thing is that I have always been curious – I was always asking why? How? WHY?!
      When you find something that you are really interested in, you want to know more and more 🙂

    • Photo: Brendan Marrinan

      Brendan Marrinan answered on 16 Nov 2018:

      I wouldn’t say I’m smart. I just know a bit more about what I do than people who don’t. I couldn’t tell you very much about how to fix a car or build a house. If you want to be smart it helps to want to learn more about something and realise that you don’t know everything…..if that makes any sense at all. I also try to make sure I learn about lots of different things when I can.

    • Photo: Liam Taylor

      Liam Taylor answered on 16 Nov 2018:

      I agree with the others – I wouldn’t have the slightest clue how to fly an airplane, but I can tell you lots about climate change! But that’s only because I’m super interested in it and passionate about it. Find something you love, and really develop a passion for it. Then you’re the smartest person for that particular thing 🙂

    • Photo: Maia Elliott

      Maia Elliott answered on 16 Nov 2018: last edited 16 Nov 2018 10:35 am

      Most scientists (including myself) are very smart in some things and also very stupid in other things! That’s because there are actually lots of different types of smartness!
      .
      Scientists are often smart in numbers and reasoning, but there are 8 other types:
      .
      You can be nature-smart (like a farmer, florist, forager or hunter)
      Sound-smart (like a musician or singer)
      Life-smart (like a philosopher or teacher)
      People-smart (like a manager or counsellor)
      Body-smart (like an athlete, dancer or physiotherapist)
      Word-smart (like a writer or professional speaker)
      Self-smart (like someone who really understands themselves – not many of us do!)
      Picture-smart (like a photographer, graphic designer or artist)
      .
      It’s really important to find out what your own smartness is (you probably have more than one!), and to exercise that smartness like a muscle! When I was 12 I started to see that I was number/reasoning-smart (because I was good at math and science) but I wasn’t very people-smart or life-smart.
      .
      So I picked science subjects in school and read science books in my spare time to exercise that smartness and make it stronger, so I could be a scientist one day. I also worked extra hard to get smarter in the areas I wasn’t very good at, like people and philosophy. I’m still not amazing at them, but I’m glad I can now kinda understand what people-smart and life-smart people are talking about!

    • Photo: Matt Bower

      Matt Bower answered on 18 Nov 2018:

      I wouldn’t call myself smart – I just found a subject that interested me and learnt about it. Being curious, asking questions and being able to use what you know in different situations is much more important than being smart!

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