Mickey - Physics/Math Tutor

Michael K.

I graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in physics, and accordingly I have a high level of knowledge in many areas of physics of math; next year I will be going to NYU to continue my education with a Masters in mathematics. Although I haven't literally had a job as a teacher or tutor before, I ran 80 minute long math problem sessions for a group of eight high school students last summer at UChicago's Young Scholar's Program (this was daily for a month), and moreover I delivered three guest lectures to my old high school's multivariable calculus class last year, so I have many hours of experience high school students.

A big part of what inspires me to teach is my personal philosophy about math and physics. In my view, the role of math is to develop a language in which surprising or confusing things become clear or obvious - as such, my mode of teaching topics in physics goes like this: I first introduce familiar example (e.g. orbital motion), then I specify the mathematical structure (Kepler's laws, preservation of angular momentum) , observe what a natural generalization of this structure is (Hamiltonian mechanics, Noether's theorem), then show how other seemingly unrelated examples can be described by an expression of the same mathematical principle (Schrodinger's equation, conservation of probability). I believe the benefit of this approach is that it allows things to be far more interactive since it mimics the flow of natural curiosity - one starts with what one concretely knows, and through comfortably tinkering with this and asking questions, one can achieve far-reaching insights in a self-motivated way. I've also found that over time, this approach helps build the confidence to ask questions in students, since it is inquiry-centered.