Tien

Certified Tutor

I am heavily immersed in the sciences and stay busy in a bacterial genetics lab whenever I am not tutoring. Science is a full-time lifestyle for me, so I have had my share of exploring as well as tutoring Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry and Physics up to the undergraduate level. I majored in Chemistry and General/Statistical Mathematics, and am capable of teaching up to abstraction subjects in the latter. I have also studied Literature, specifically post-modern American, British Renaissance, and Poetry throughout my IB high school and college years. I am very familiar with US and Comparative Government due to having worked as an outliner for the AP books.

Teaching is a personal endeavor and a necessary passion in my particular field. On one hand, science is a small community and relies on personal, one-on-one apprenticeship in order to train the next generation of researchers and explorers. On the other hand, learning science (learning anything, in fact) is best done with context in mind; if you can sufficiently teach someone, especially a layperson, the subject matter that you are studying, then you know that you got it! I have been teaching for five years not only because it is helpful in giving back to the community, but also because I need to in order to master my craft.

Because of this, it is in my best interest to optimize my teaching style and habits whenever I organize a session. I dabble in epistemology, which is the study of knowledge, and am very intent on streamlining studying skills. I can definitely teach subject matter in the short term, but I'm also looking to teach people how to learn effectively in the long run. My sessions involve a lot of "think about this idea in this way, so that you'll be able to apply the same reasoning when you look at this new thing." I am a firm believer in the old "teach a man to fish..." mentality towards education.