I stepped on the gas and got to CalTech in a few minutes, only to behold a hideous sight. Although it was daytime, the lights in the buildings were flashing on and off. I saw physicists grappling on the lawn, locked in tooth and nail struggles for pocket calculators. It was horrible. Suddenly a caravan of police cars escorting a large truck with “Bob’s Slide Rules” painted on the sides pulled in front of the Physics building. Before they could come to a stop, a horde of people rushed out, turned over the truck, and began looting it, screaming and ripping open boxes of slide rules. The few cops who got too close were quickly mauled. Some of the mathematicians didn’t even try to get away; they just sat down and began doing functions, right in front of everyone. I turned away, retching. My God, I thought. The computers must be on the fritz … and they haven’t used the chalkboards in years … they must be out of chalk. If they act this way for slide rules … what will happen when the chalk truck arrives?
School classrooms can be exceedingly difficult places in which to learn mathematics well.
Teachers vary in passion and ability (as is natural); class behaviour and attitudes (and bullying) can alter the learning environment radically; learning in a large group at the same speed and with little opportunity to receive one-on-one help leads to boredom or frustration for many/most students; textbooks vary in quality and frequently lack stimulating material (because publishers restrict the size of the books); and sometimes students are negatively influenced by parents and peers who share their own bad experiences or attitudes.
Home educators, too, often feel that they lack sufficient understanding to teach their children mathematics … and the resources that they have access to can sometimes be bland, unstimulating, and even poorly explained or constructed.
My wife and I home educated our daughter and I have taught and tutored mathematics for many years. I am aware of the difficulties listed above and have often been asked by students and parents to create a website to share my understanding and resources with others. Crystal Clear Mathematics is the result.
Because this medium is not interactive (in the sense of allowing immediate interaction between you and me) I cannot provide the quality of tutition that I would like to offer you … but I hope you find the videos and the supporting files to be useful none-the-less.
This website and its associated FaceBook page and YouTube channel were all launched on Tuesday 20 November 2012.
I was tutored by Graeme for the majority of my high school years in mathematics. He really helped me to understand ways of working out problems that I had difficulty grasping, which I’m very thankful for! When I was studying some subjects in accountancy and business mathematics at university, I found the concepts that he had taught me were invaluable. He is a fantastic tutor, highly recommend him if you need any help with mathematics.
Jonathan T (student, c2005-2011)