Arjun Nanning Ramamurthy

First and foremost, I understand that different people have different backgrounds and have different levels of familiarity and confidence with maths. As such I tailor my lessons to each individual student using prior experience of what works well and adapting as I get to know a student and how they work. I am patient and encouraging, always working on the belief that anyone can understand and enjoy maths with the right support.

I take an encouraging and student-centred approach, meaning I use discussion and collaborative problem-solving to work *with* the student to discover and understand concepts, rather than telling them what to do and what is "right". This places the focus on developing a strong understanding of mathematical thinking, not just memorising formulae, an approach I have found to be significantly more effective in the long-term: not only is a solid conceptual foundation laid, but the skills developed (problem-solving, analytical and critical thinking, estimation and verification) are useful far beyond mathematics itself. My approach is informed by pedagogical theory and refined through my years of experience based on what I have found works well.

I prefer to let my students choose the focus and direction of lessons, so that we can directly target the topics and issues most helpful to and engaging for a student. This might include the student bringing exercises or questions on material they are currently finding challenging, or taking time to explore a question that arises during the lesson. However, I will also use my experience to discern weak points that a student might be unaware of, and so guide a lesson in a particular direction to tackle these. I find this student-centred approach most productive, but I can also provide a more rigid structure if that is preferred. This latter case might be especially relevant for strong students wishing to stretch themselves beyond their current courses. Nevertheless, I will still take a partially exploratory approach, encouraging the student to engage with ideas themselves.

I find great excitement in solving problems and connecting concepts in mathematics, and I love to share this joy with others. This is something I have been doing informally throughout my education, and formally in various roles of tutoring and maths outreach over the past four years. This includes group tutoring for first-year undergraduate maths students at the University of Edinburgh, mentoring secondary school students in mathematical problem-solving through the UK Maths Trust mentoring scheme, and independent tutoring. I have also worked with the University of Edinburgh Maths Outreach Team in events such as Royal Institution maths masterclasses, Edinburgh maths tours, Edinburgh Science Festival drop-in maths activities, and community maths problem days ("Maths Circles"), to name a few. This love of sharing maths with others is at the centre of my tutoring.