Alan Aversa

I obtained my B.S. degrees in physics and astronomy from the University of Arizona in 2008, with minors in mathematics and Italian. I have a wide range of experience teaching and tutoring my favorite subjects of physics, mathematics, and various computer science core areas, including Linux, C, Python, Bash, and Mathematica.

I teach in the Socratic method. Simply presenting physics or mathematics as a series of disconnected facts is not the correct way to teach a subject that involves active reasoning and problem solving. My students learn best when I teach them how to ask questions. For example, one student setup an appointment with me asking me how to draw a ray diagram depicting a convex lens forming an image. I did not just tell him Heres what it looks like. No. I asked him questions and led him through the problem to the solution, at which he arrived on his own. He then said: You know, Mr. A., I learned more in the past five minutes about optics than my entire last semester. I thought he was exaggerating, but then I realized that his teacher last semester did not present him with the logic of how a lens works; rather, he presented optics as mere facts and not as a reasoned argument.

In my free time I like to read.