Mathematics

Mathematics is the building block of all science, and numeracy is one of two twinned keystones of employability, the other being literacy. Without mathematics, the world would grind to a standstill in a moment. How on Earth can you teach it, though? How to teach mathematics?

In truth, there's no easy answer to the question, as mathematics is far more easily learnt than taught. At a very basic level, the role of the teacher is to introduce systems, contexts and opportunities to practice, until the student learns the highly abstract material that is being put before them. Mathematics is abstract.

There are ways to improve teaching of mathematics, though, and those ways lie mainly in motivating the content properly and introducing new ways to demonstrate just what it is you are doing when you solve model problems, and why. The 'why' is very important, on two levels: Firstly, 'Why are we learning this?', and secondly, 'Why are you doing what you're doing?' If you can't answer either of those questions, then you are indeed in trouble.

My tutoring in mathematics will be based squarely in why we do the things we do, and how the systems of thought taught in mathematics are used to solve problems. It's all about systems, and systems are only really understood via practice, so practice we shall, preferably against a backdrop of why the things being learnt are interesting and important.

Now, that is definitely enough prevarication. It's time to dig in and make this blog about something. Next time we'll have an introductory post on the joys of Spanish, and following that something technical and in depth just to prove I'm not just a tyro swinging a calculator and calling myself a mathematician.

O.