<span style="display: none;"> It’s hard to do well in math when you don’t understand the underlying concepts behind the methods. My favorite way to think about it is to reference the famous Chinese room thought experiment. </span>
<p>&nbsp;</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgk-2pvx-VL4vDSNCHzwCgf4X2vwAXU1PiLmpEP-_IMyJEVysdL4_sz56kFyJ9aFKiOLJnjLzRLeAPWB26cUsDps2NnNhmpe_Qxch5INBbakKwRhKKpOsD2OgDG_2kJ5IK-Sl1VaNn2uvxloMBr1lWrZaxzGlfZDW-f6KpLNY8b8cKTBYtdQO28Xch9vw=s1410" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="1410" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgk-2pvx-VL4vDSNCHzwCgf4X2vwAXU1PiLmpEP-_IMyJEVysdL4_sz56kFyJ9aFKiOLJnjLzRLeAPWB26cUsDps2NnNhmpe_Qxch5INBbakKwRhKKpOsD2OgDG_2kJ5IK-Sl1VaNn2uvxloMBr1lWrZaxzGlfZDW-f6KpLNY8b8cKTBYtdQO28Xch9vw=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It’s hard to do well in math when you don’t understand the underlying concepts behind the methods. My favorite way to think about it is to reference the famous Chinese room thought experiment. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room">Chinese Room</a> is a thought experiment initially created to analyze a few central problems in artificial intelligence, but I find that it applies just as well to the process of learning math. Here’s how it goes. (It’s written for someone who doesn’t speak Chinese. If you do speak Chinese, replace Chinese with another language that you don’t speak.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Imagine that one day you found yourself alone in a room with a mail slot. Inside the room, there are pencils and stacks of paper, and there is also a large filing cabinet which contains lists of different Chinese characters. The lists are organized so that there are two Chinese characters in each row-- one in the left-hand column, and one in the right-hand column.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As you investigate the file cabinets, a letter is passed through the mail slot into the room. You open the letter, and it is written in Chinese. You grab a sheet of paper and a pencil, and you look at the first character in the letter. Then, you go to the filing cabinet, and you look through the lists until you find that character in the left-hand column of one of the lists. Now, on your sheet of paper, you write down the other character in that row-- the one in the right-hand column. So at this point, your sheet of paper has one Chinese character written on it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Repeat this process by going through every Chinese character on the letter that you received, and then finding and writing down the corresponding character on your sheet of paper. By the time you’re finished, you have a sheet of paper covered in Chinese characters.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You send the letter out through the mail slot. Another one comes in. You go through the same procedure, producing another sheet of paper covered in Chinese characters. You send your letter out through the mail slot; another one comes in, and so on and so forth.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That’s the setup. To an outside observer, it looks like there is an exchange taking place between two speakers of Chinese. But you don’t speak Chinese! So even though you were producing a document written in Chinese, you never understood what it meant. You never had a meaningful conversation with another speaker. You were just following a set of rules and procedures without comprehending the meaning of what you were doing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sometimes learning math can feel like being in the Chinese room. You can go to class or lecture, you can take notes, you can do your homework, and you can turn it in-- all without really understanding what you’re doing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Math tutoring breaks the pattern of the Chinese room</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My job as a math tutor is to help you break that cycle of doing work without understanding it. Once you can understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, you can unlock the beauty, creativity, and even the fun in math.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Effective tutoring should empower you as a learner. I want all my students to feel confident in their abilities and to understand that they are capable of achieving their mathematical goals.&nbsp; When we work together, I’ll guide you through the methods and techniques while also explaining the foundational concepts. I’ll select practice problems for supplementary skill-building work to ensure you’re learning the core essentials -- and, more importantly, that you’re truly comprehending the material.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Don’t stay stuck in the Chinese room. Reach out today to schedule your free consultation!</div>

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The Chinese Room