The SAT test, as well all know, tests our reasoning skills. The Math section contains questions of different difficulty levels. While you might feel the need to use a calculator for simple questions, problems that involve lengthy calculations might eat up your time if you do not use a calculator.

When to use the calculator? If you are good at math, and you can do basic arithmetic in your head, you are lucky. However, if math problems do trouble you, using a calculator would be a good decision.  Again, the same problem can attract use of calculator in different ways.

To give an example, let us see how a math problem can be solved in different ways using a calculator, and without it too.

If 16 × 25 × 36 = (4a) ² Find a

Options: (A) 6     (B) 15     (C) 30     (D) 36     (E) 60

Approach 1: Too much use of calculator

Calculate 16 × 25 × 36 = 14400

See that (4a) ² = 16a²

So, 16a² = 14400

Use the calculator to divide 14400 with 16 to get a² = 900

Again use the calculator to find the Square root of 900. Therefore, a = 30

Approach 2: Little use of calculator

16 × 25 × 36 = 16a²

The 16 on LHS can be cancelled with the 16 on the RHS

Multiply 25 x 36 using a calculator to get 900

So we get 900 = a²

Take the square root of 900 using the calculator. So the answer is a = 30

Smart Approach: No Calculator

Cancel the 16 on both side of the equation.

Also note that 25 x 36 = a² can be written as 5² x 6² = a²

Hence a = 30

There is a difference in the learning approach of every child. We all know that different children think differently. Then how can the same education pattern be implemented to one and all? While it is not possible to devise an entirely different syllabus for every single child, at least teachers should try to teach in a customized way.

I read a quote some days back. This quote explains it all in just a single sentence- “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”

Teachers and parents must try to implement the advice given in this saying. Children coming from different families, different cultures and of course different backgrounds can never be alike. Just because a mathematician created a theorem and gave the explanation/proof in a particular fashion does not at all mean that teachers should stop using their own brains to make the child understand the theorem in a way that he interprets properly.

Education should be fun. It should not pose as a scary thing for children. Online tutoring can provide your child with one-on-one learning, customized to meet his learning needs. A smart tutor would never make your child uncomfortable or burdened with boring math problems, biology diagrams, or chemistry equations.  After all, education aims at making our lives simple!

Communicating is often misconstrued as the act of talking. In reality, it is the process of ‘conveying information’ in a language that is well understood by the participants, or the people involved in communication. Suppose a Japanese person is talking to a French woman and both are using their mother tongues. Would you call it a proper communication? Yes, (to some extent) if both can understand each other’s language well. No, if the language is alien to either of them.

What I am trying to convey is that communication has to be ‘meaningful’. I would rather use incorrect language to convey my message rather than using a language that is totally foreign to the receiver. Online Math tutoring is a complex affair only when there is lack of meaningful communication between the tutor and the student. If you are an online math tutor and you are not being able to improve the child’s performance, lack of communication might be the cause.

The same goes with a tutor specializing in homework help. No one is perfect. Perfection should not be the sole aim of online tutoring. Online tutors should strive to make child understand their concepts, and not force them to learn ideas.

Children do not think the way we think. Let us get this fact in our heads once and all. Expecting them to match our level of thinking is a waste of time. Children live in their own world. They would interpret a given scenario in their own ways.

Children would make the same mistakes again and again. Getting irritated would do no good to them. Tutors should be prepared for all types of weird questions and mistakes while teaching children using the Internet. If children will not make mistake, who else will?

There is nothing called perfection in the field of online tutoring. Tutors should be relaxed while teaching kids online. Let us understand this concept with the help of an example. For this we will talk about two tutors. Let us call them Jim and Jane.

Jim and Jane, both are experts in online math tutoring and homework help. They have been assigned the same student Bob, of grade 7. And they are asked to teach Bob the meaning of percentage. Here is the scenario.

Jim: Hi Bob! Today, I will talk about percentage.

Bob: (not showing interest) Ok…

Jim: do you know what does ‘percent’ mean?

Bob: No…

Jim: 13% = 13/100 = 0.13 do you understand that?

Bob: No

Jim: Thirteen percent is the same as the fraction 13/100 and the decimal 0.13

Bob: I don’t understand

Jim: (getting irritated): What is there that you do not understand?

Now consider the interaction between Jane and Bob:

Jane: Hi Bob! Today, I will talk about percentage.

Bob: (not showing interest) Ok…

Jane: do you know what does ‘percent’ mean?

Bob: No…

Jane: 13% = 13/100 = 0.13 do you understand that?

Bob: No

Jane: Thirteen percent is the same as the fraction 13/100 and the decimal 0.13

Bob: I don’t understand

Jane: That is ok. Let’s suppose your daddy bought you 100 chocolates

Bob: Vow

Jane: I know it’s amazing. You love chocolates?

Bob: Yeah, but Mom says I should not eat them a lot.

Jane (smiles): Now out of those 100 chocolates, and you eat 87 of them in 2 weeks. How much would you have?

Bob: 100 minus 87….so I will have… (Uses his calculator) 13

Jane: Great Bob…you did this well

Bob: Thanks

Jane: so Bob, PerCent mean per cent or per 100. So 13 Percent would mean?

Bob: 13 per cent

Jane: Right. Or 13 per 100…we can call it 13%.. (And the session continues)

What we can deduce from these two different stories is that the same concept can be taught in a fun way without letting the child getting bored. Here, for example, Jane talked about chocolates that kept the interest alive in the child during the online math tutoring session.

The English Dictionary defines ‘Instruction’ as ‘a message describing how something is to be done’. While this definition is correct in the context of providing education to children, to some extent, it does not recognize the importance of ‘guiding’ children.

I have come across children who do not fare well in a particular subject, but have been blessed with some kind of a talent. Parents, often, fail to motivate their children for such talents. Motivation can singlehandedly improve the performance of human beings, and animals too.

Pat the back of your child every time he/she does something good, not necessarily great. Motivation promotes children to perform better, without feeling ‘burdened’. Online Tutoring can prove to be a powerful channel to guide and motivate children in ways more than one. Tutors specializing in homework help or online math tutoring should ensure that they encourage children in every session.

There are tutors who believe that helping a child mug up Math formulas or Chemistry concepts is enough for their development. What they forget is that education is worthless if it fails to make a child a responsible citizen.