Physics & Math &/or Computer-Science/Programming help from semi-retired high school & tech college teacher (>5 yrs teaching FTE plus 20 yrs IT work-world experience)

Find out more about Steve

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  Ever since my college years, I have considered myself a teacher whether or not I was being paid for it. Fellow students in my dorm often asked for help, especially with math and the hard sciences.
  
  The advantage I see in tutoring over classroom teaching is this: In tutoring, I can learn what works best for my student and adjust my teaching to their needs. In a classroom, I often tell them on the first day that they will have to accept that I may have to explain some things in five different ways because different people will understand the material at different times and in different ways. In short, a classroom setting is not the place for a "Helen Keller" to learn. Being both deaf and blind due to an illness as a 19-month-old infant, Helen Keller needed the personal tutoring of her lifelong companion and teacher Anne Sullivan (who later married John Macy, and Helen lived with them).
  
  In a classroom, the quicker students may become impatient with the varied repetition, and I may need to move on after 90% or 95% of the class "get it," but when tutoring I can ensure that the student has understood the material before moving on.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  I have tutored (or taught in classrooms) various math and science and computer science subjects, including beginning accounting and statistics for business.
  Some of the subjects I have taught include:
  introduction to computer science, systems analysis and design, programming (in Basic, C, and Cobol), networking, elementary accounting (including an easy way to learn "T-charts"), business statics, math for business analysis, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, physics, chemistry, earth science, physical science. For the professional organization APICS (American Production and Inventory Control Society), I have taught all five of the modules for their certification program, and I am Certified at the Fellow Level in Production and Inventory Management (CFPIM), which is double the work required for the basic CPIM certification. I have ten different professional certifications in various aspects of computing, information technology, and education. My undergraduate formal education (B.A. Knox College) was in physics with a minor in mathematics, while my Master's degree is in education, with a focus on Guidance and Counseling, (M.S.Ed., Western Illinois University).
  
  With math and physics especially, my favorite introductory lesson is to explain how to convert temperature numbers in degrees-Centigrate to and from degrees-Fahrenheit, without memorizing any formulas and without having to learn which formula has parentheses and which does not. My brief explanation of that process leads into introducing students to a very useful tool for physics and math problems known as "units analysis." Many problems can be checked, and sometimes solved just by knowing how to do "units analysis." I enjoy applying those ideas to the problems the material is posing to my students. In fact, many problems in physics and math can be solved using the following approach:
  Draw a picture, label the variables, write down the applicable formulas or equations. Then use logic to figure out how to solve the problem.
  
  For students who are interested in calculus or more advanced physics, I really enjoy demonstrating how the basic concepts of differential and integral calculus can be understood with no more than elementary geometry and elementary algebra applied to x-y coordinate graphs.
  
  Algebra is simply using variables (letters) as place-holders for numbers to see patterns in how numbers can be used. Students who still need to think in terms of concrete numbers rather than variables will have difficulty getting very far in physics. Such students are still thinking in terms of arithmetic rather than algebra. Howeer, a knowledge of arithmetic is still needed in algebra. For example, I have advised a prospective algebra student that he needed to learn with 100% accuracy his addition and multiplication tables. I did not care how fast he was or even if he needed to use his fingers to get the answers, but he needed to know all the correct answers for those tables. When I was in college physics, we were not allowed to use calculators, and the professors expected us to learn how to round numbers and make a quick estimate of what the answer should be in order to double-check our work.
  
  Incidentally, I have been discovering increasingly that students in middle to high school are not being given textbooks. In such cases, handouts or electronic (PDF) files may be available. When there are no textbooks and no handouts, I have had to teach a student how to get answers to their questions about definitions and formulas using Google.

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  My professor for my first (and last) course in college chemistry was so bad at explaining things clearly that the students all wondered what he had said at the end of an hour class. His bad example of teaching made a stark contrast with the two physics professors I found most inspiring. Their approach to teaching physics caused me to change my plans and become a physics major. One was the chairman of the department, and the other was my academic advisor (who became the department chair later).
  
  They both did something I greatly appreciated and have applied to my own teaching and tutoring: MINIMIZE memorization and MAXIMIZE learning how to apply logic and reasoning to various situations in order to solve problems. They would write on the chalk board 3 (at most 4 or 5) lines, such as a definition or two and a formula or equation or two. Then they would say something like, "That is EVERYTHING you need to know from the chapter. Everything else can be figured out from those things." We would all say (sarcastically) "Right!" But then their lectures were designed to demonstrate that claim by showing us how to figure out everything else needed to get through the chapter.

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  -- First, a love of both the subject and of the student(s).
  -- A willingness and ability to explain things simply, clearly, and thoroughly, and to adjust the style of explanation to the needs of the student (as those needs are learned through interaction together).
  -- Ability to ask questions to help the student think through the issues.
  -- Questions are also needed to check if whether the student is "getting it."
  -- A tutor (or any teacher) cannot simply state things and expect that they have been understood. Communication needs to be tested to make sure that the student understands correctly. Clarify and verify.
  
  I applied the same concepts when I was a foreman or supervisor in manufacturing jobs. When an employee failed to do what I thought I had told them to do, my first assumption was that I had not communicated clearly enough. It helped morale that I accepted that responsibility instead of blaming them for the failure. If necessary I would work next to them for a while (rarely needing more than an hour) to show them exactly what was meant by the words and what was needed for them to do on the job. Applied to tutoring, I prefer to work in person with students rather than by webcam. In most math and science problems there is a need to show one's work by showing the steps through which a solution was determined. We do this by seeing each other's work on paper.
  
  I can adjust to webcam, but it can take longer when there is a need to show each other the steps we are taking to solve the problem. I learned this in telephone support for programming problems in my information technology jobs. It could take 10 minutes by phone to do something that would take only 10 seconds in person looking over their shoulder at their computer screen.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  In one class to become licensed as a high-pressure boiler operator, the teacher was quite knowledgeable, but arrogant and poor at explaining things. He also belittled students when he thought they had asked a stupid question. As a result, students were afraid to ask questions, but they would thank me after class when I did so. One day while he was belittling me for asking a question, I finally said, "Fine, so I am stupid. Now answer the question so I don't stay that way." And, he finally did his job.
  
  Incidentally, I always encourage questions. I tell my students that the only stupid question is when you ask a question that you do NOT want to have answered.
  
  As a supervisor of ten to twelve programmers on one programming project that lasted about one and a quarter years, I often had to help programmers get out of spots where they were stumped. I treated those like teaching or tutoring situations. In addition, often two or more programmers would have different ideas about how to design or solve a particular programming issue. I would get them in a room, let each explain their viewpoint, and then pick out the best ideas for our project. I had to explain my decisions to them as to why those were the best ideas. In effect, I taught or tutored or "sold" them on the best answer to their dilemma. Usually, those ideas had come from them and were not originally my own, but I was better at identifying and then explaining which ideas were the best for our project. Result? At the end of the project, the customer took our program to a trade show, and came back telling us, "We were the belle of the ball. This program will set a new standard in our industry." (I later received a letter of reference quoting that compliment.)
  
  As you can see, I have applied teaching and tutoring to employment situations as well as to formal education.
  
  My Master of Science in Education (M.S.Ed.) is in Guidance and Counseling, which can be viewed as another form of tutoring.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or are still facing in your subject?

  I have often said that the teacher is merely the most advanced student in the class. This is true most of the time for any good teacher, but there will be times when a student may be more advanced in a particular area of information than the teacher. A good teacher or tutor can accept that and use the student's knowledge to further the learning goals of the situation.
  
  Sometimes it has been some years since I have used or presented certain material. My standard approach for tutoring on how to solve problems enables me to refresh the material, even while helping the student learn it at the same time.
  
  One of my tutoring students was taking college-level Calculus 3 for engineering. This was beyond anything I had ever studied, especially since the equations included factors for friction and heat which were generally neglected or ignored (for the sake of simplicity) in my undergraduate physics degree courses. I asked questions to help him identify the factors necessary to solve the problems. Many times he would suddenly understand and start writing the work to solve the problem, even before I understood for myself. In short, my approach to tutoring and teaching was able to help even a student who was learning things beyond what I could personally understand and explain.

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  From childhood I have always liked science, and I happened to be very good at mathematics. Before even joining Boy Scouts, my first two purchased merit badge pamphlets were Astronomy and Insect Life, which I read and did activities simply because I found science fascinating. By ninth grade I had served every leadership position from patrol leader through junior assistant scoutmaster (JASM) and was an Eagle Scout with double gold palms (30 merit badges past Eagle, which requires only 21, ending with a total of 54 plus 10 badges in-process, before quitting scouting to focus on high school sports). I mention this only to show additional opportunities I have had to teach and tutor others.
  
  My primary lifelong passion is the biblical worldview. I help parents use everyday life to give their children a biblical worldview that they can confidently defend to influence the culture, especially when encountering false ideas.
  (2Corinthians 10:3-5; Colossians 2:8-9; 1Timothy 6:20-21; Ephesians 1:7-10; 4:14-15; 1Peter 3:15; Romans 11:36-12:2).
  The title of the 90-day program I am currently developing is:
  "Confidently Stand on Truth" (with subtitle next:)
  " -- Develop a robust biblical worldview
  > against false claims of "knowledge"
  > to strengthen others and the culture
  > to be an influential spiritual champion "
  
  I am currently looking for interested parents (and their middle school to high school into college children) who are willing to give me feedback regarding what kind of subjects and content they would like assistance with. Those interviews are usually by phone and only 15-20 minutes long, with no obligation and no "sales pitch," just my seeking to understand what things people would like help with. For those who are interested, I have taught and tutored both the Bible itself and a biblical worldview on various subjects.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions)?

  -- As mentioned already, I have considered myself a teacher since late high school or early college, whether or not it was a paid position.
  -- I love helping people learn things and understand them better.
  -- I succeeded in the work world by using my teaching and tutoring skills In nearly every job I ever had.
  -- After listening to classroom discussions, everyday conversations, and/or debates, I seem to have a gift for selecting the most important points and the best ideas to summarize what was said.
  -- I am curious about most subjects, but my main areas have been science, math, computer science, and Bible (applied to every area of life and thought, the biblical worldview).