Malcolm Clarke

My teaching style focuses on learning by doing. I believe the best way to learn mathematics is by understanding the relationships between concepts, and navigating that web of relations to understand new ones. The best way to do so is to see these relationships in practise, and to immerse yourself in them.

My lessons are typically structured as follows: 2-3 learning outcomes will be presented, then I will explain a new concept related to the learning outcomes, linking it both to pre-existing knowledge and to the learning outcomes. Then, I will do an example question using the concept, and ask you to do a similar one to gauge your understanding. This is repeated for the major concepts in the lesson, then at the end I will give a short quiz and set aside some time for any lingering questions.

I firmly believe that mistakes are the greatest source of learning potential, not a sign of shame. I encourage my students to try things they aren't sure about, and kindly show them where they went wrong if they did. Knowledge of mathematics is like a toolbox - you can only learn you were using a tool wrong by using it in the first place.