I teach maths in Mowbray Park for about 7 years already. I really like training, both for the joy of sharing mathematics with trainees and for the chance to take another look at older material and also improve my very own comprehension. I am positive in my talent to educate a range of undergraduate courses. I consider I have been reasonably successful as an instructor, that is proven by my positive student opinions in addition to many freewilled compliments I have received from trainees.
The main aspects of education
According to my sight, the two primary facets of mathematics education and learning are mastering functional problem-solving capabilities and conceptual understanding. Neither of them can be the sole aim in an effective maths training course. My goal being an educator is to achieve the right equity between the two.
I think firm conceptual understanding is definitely needed for success in an undergraduate mathematics course. Many of stunning suggestions in maths are simple at their base or are formed upon previous thoughts in easy means. One of the targets of my training is to reveal this clarity for my students, in order to both increase their conceptual understanding and minimize the demoralising aspect of maths. A fundamental issue is that the elegance of maths is typically up in arms with its severity. For a mathematician, the best realising of a mathematical outcome is typically delivered by a mathematical evidence. But students normally do not think like mathematicians, and therefore are not naturally equipped to handle said points. My job is to distil these ideas down to their point and discuss them in as simple way as I can.
Pretty frequently, a well-drawn image or a short decoding of mathematical expression into layman's words is one of the most successful technique to reveal a mathematical view.
My approach
In a typical initial mathematics course, there are a variety of abilities which trainees are actually expected to receive.
This is my belief that trainees usually grasp maths better via example. For this reason after introducing any kind of unfamiliar principles, most of my lesson time is typically devoted to resolving numerous examples. I thoroughly pick my exercises to have unlimited variety to ensure that the students can recognise the attributes which are common to all from those elements which specify to a precise example. At establishing new mathematical strategies, I often present the theme like if we, as a crew, are learning it mutually. Typically, I will certainly show an unknown kind of trouble to deal with, discuss any kind of issues that prevent previous approaches from being employed, propose a fresh method to the problem, and then bring it out to its rational resolution. I feel this particular approach not only involves the trainees yet encourages them simply by making them a component of the mathematical process rather than simply spectators that are being explained to how they can handle things.
Basically, the conceptual and analytical aspects of maths supplement each other. Certainly, a solid conceptual understanding causes the methods for solving issues to seem more typical, and thus easier to absorb. Having no understanding, students can often tend to consider these methods as strange algorithms which they need to fix in the mind. The even more skilled of these trainees may still have the ability to solve these problems, but the procedure comes to be worthless and is unlikely to become maintained once the course ends.
A strong experience in problem-solving also develops a conceptual understanding. Seeing and working through a range of various examples enhances the mental image that a person has about an abstract principle. Hence, my aim is to emphasise both sides of mathematics as clearly and briefly as possible, so that I make the most of the student's potential for success.