Maria
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: Swarthmore College - Bachelors, Chemistry
Graduate Degree: University of Chicago - PHD, Chemistry
Family, reading, martial arts, nature
What is your teaching philosophy?
I think that the ultimate goal of a tutor should be to become unnecessary! I try to help students develop a general framework for approaching questions. In many cases, once a chemistry problem is properly set-up, a good part of the work is already done. I am also a big believer in the value of writing out the work for problems step-by-step. If the work is organized and clear, it is easier for the student to go back and figure out what went wrong if a problem is not answered correctly. I feel that instructors have a responsibility to let students figure out the answer to homework questions for themselves. If a tutor is overly involved in producing the answer, it may help a single homework assignment but will not ultimately aid the student in learning the material. To this end, I try to ask a lot of leading questions and then step back to let students work out the material.