Gun powder and calculus
Photo courtesy of Google
Luke’ s University Graduation
After about one and a half years in Seattle, we moved back to Perth and I was fortunate enough to get Luke and Ryan back in their private school after a brief waiting period. Around 7th grade, I introduced Luke to calculus. I did it in a unique way that probably should be considered the way to teach it in high school. My goal was to show him some advanced math that would give him confidence in any academic situation. I started asking him if he was keen to learn about things related to his interests. I enquired if he wanted to know how high he could throw a baseball before it came back down, how far he could throw it and how fast would it be traveling at any given time. I peaked his curiosity and he asked me to explain. I then showed him a differential calculus equation that demonstrates how to track the baseball and Luke was able to get the concept. Several days later, we went to an Army demonstration of their guns and in particular we went into a tent that housed a canon and its computerized gear. They spoke about the weight of the projectile, the speed of it, the trajectory and its distance based on the load of the gun powder. Luke and I then discussed how similar this was to the previous calculus example. Relating calculus to what boys like was the key and Luke’ s interests were born. So, we then worked out some problems but we did this backwards. We started with what information we wanted to get and worked backwards to do some of the algebra and other calculations necessary to get there. Essentially I was able to take a complex differential equation and make it interesting for a 7th grader that wanted to learn more. I worked up some problems and we solved them together and then presented another level of math called integral calculus that solved other kinds of problems. At the end of about 2 months Luke was able to solve calculus problems that were taught at the level of the end of year 12 that was typically used in the test that determines your score for university entry.
Ryan’ s University Graduation When Ryan was a bit older and he was in year 7, he approached me to show him some of the advanced math
that I had taught Luke. His motivation was a bit different as he was both curious and it seemed to me that he possibly wanted to out do Luke. For whatever reason, Ryan picked up both differential and integral calculus quickly. I thought for diversity that I would focus on chemistry, so I started explaining about atoms and simple water molecules and within only a few months of short one-on-one lessons, he was able to perform all of the advanced calculations for chemical formulas that were given on tests at the end of year 12 level that were typically used to assess entry into university. Ryan went on from there as he was eager to learn more so I introduced him to a bit of organic chemistry at the university level where he was able to draw each of the nucleotides and their respective bonds for the DNA molecule. His interests faded there and we just walked away from it, just like that. Unfortunately, he did not like chemistry when he got to high school primarily because of the teacher who didn’ t really make it relevant to what boys want to relate to. A real shame as there are so many
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