Jack

I am currently a PhD student at the University of York where I use first principles physics with computational techniques to simulate magnetic materials.

Tutoring Experience

From October-December 2020 I volunteered at my local school helping students with Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Computer Science at GCSE level.
I also teach, as a graduate assistant, the undergraduate advanced computing laboratory, and enjoy helping masters students with their projects in our research group.

Tutoring Approach

Usually in maths and related subjects, it is quite easy for a student to fall behind because they have missed a key point or fundamental concept, particularly since a lot of the content builds on itself. Therefore I think it's really important to use guided questioning (usually by giving them problems to try) so as to find out what concept is missing so it can be explained.

I use guided questioning quite a lot, as I believe it helps provide a path for the student through a problem, with them working it out, rather than me always explaining it to them (which I think might be a bit boring). I find a lot of the time visual diagrams can really help, particularly in science where a model needs to be built up in the mind so that an intuitive understanding can be developed. Sometimes the use of analogies also helps.

I will also set excersises from the textbooks for the course the student is on, so that they can practice and improve, and this will help me know whether they have understood it. I also think it's important to understand the revision techniques the student has, and to provide tips on different techniques they can try if they don't have anything that's working for them yet.