I wanted to write a short post regarding making attempts.

I taught a course on observational astronomy as an assistant, and in that un-representative sample of about 20 students, when I asked people to make a guess, e.g. about exposure, or anything else, male students of the same class gave a guess right away, but female students were reluctant to give a guess, fearing to be wrong in their guess. That’s okay.

However, more often than not, we don’t have all the ducks in the row, we don’t have all the things figured out in science and in life. We have to try something, to test, and yes to make mistakes. It is okay that if we try something it does not work out, it gives us information to find an alternative solution. I encourage people not to be blocked by trying to get it right from the first time. It is okay to try something, even if it leads to failure. Think of building airplanes and then rockets. We did not start flying right away. There were many attempts. Similarly, in your pursuits of science or projects, I encourage to try and be honest with yourself about it. I mean, ask yourself, am I just afraid to make a mistake and that’s why I am not attempting this project/idea?

I would encourage teachers also to teach this concept to all students that it’s okay to make mistakes in science. It’s okay to try and guess. Scientists have been way off in the past as well, such as giving an age to our Universe, or dimensions of our own Milky Way Galaxy – to give a few examples from astronomy-related topics. So it is totally normal to make a guess and then see what happens in many cases (of course this is not applicable to all situations).

In fact, many trials might be part of the journey to the successful solution πŸ˜€

Enjoy the journey!

And yes, have fun making mistakes! You might wish to watch some video fails on Youtube to laugh at the situation πŸ˜€

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