Professional Statistician

Jason A.

I hold a B.S. in mathematics as well as both an M.S. and PhD in statistics. While in college, I worked at my university's tutoring lab helping fellow students with math classes from remedial levels up to upper division. During the summers, I also worked with the Upward Bound program tutoring high school students in Algebra 1 and Algebra 2. While in graduate school, I taught three different introductory statistics courses (a general education course, a survey of statistical methods course, and a calculus-based course intended for science and engineering majors). As the instructor of record for each of these courses, I held regular office hours for one-on-one or small group sessions. In all of my tutoring and teaching,

While in junior high and high school, I often struggled to understand the courses I was taking. After taking a single math course (college algebra) during my first semester as a undergraduate, my entire perspective on the subject was changed by an instructor who had a deep understanding of the concepts, gave simple and intuitive explanations, and took the time to make sure her students understood what she was teaching. In reflecting on this significant shift in my mindset, I realized that much of my difficulty came from viewing math as a set of procedures and lacking any intuitive understanding.

In all of my tutoring and teaching experiences, rather than focusing on procedures, I focus on helping students understand the underlying principles. In my experience, this helps students use the procedures as intended and see what they are learning as part of a unified whole. I believe in using this approach to help students answer their own questions. Some students, especially while working as a university tutor, could get frustrated with this approach as they wanted me to simply answer their questions. However, I firmly believe that this approach sets students up for greater success in their educational careers.