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Ten Questions/Ten Minutes: STEM Tutor Interview with Atul Rana

We are so proud of the wide variety of tutors we have working with us at Athena Tuition, so we are running a series of Ten Questions/Ten Minutes interviews with some of them to highlight their expertise. Our first tutor is Atul Rana, a highly experienced tutor of Maths and Science who is truly passionate about his subjects and we are delighted that he has shared some of his insights into tutoring and STEM. So, without further ado…



1. Atul, thank you for taking the time to talk to us at Athena! For those reading who aren’t familiar with you, please tell everyone a little about yourself. What did you do before tutoring?

 

My pleasure! I am a full time online maths and Science tutor. I did a degree and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London. As part of my degree I worked for Rolls Royce Plc for around 2 years in Diesel Engines, Steam Turbines and Electrical machinery. Later I worked in the city of London in a software design team for a company that does Economic modelling forecasts of metal prices.


2. What drew you to tutoring, and how long have you tutored for?

 

Going into tutoring was never part of a career plan, and 11 years on I am so glad I entered the world of tutoring by accident. When I finished my PhD I was in debt and a friend suggested tutoring, so I joined an agency and they gave me my first tutoring assignment. It turned out I was a natural tutor from day 1. After good feedback, the agency just got me more and more jobs. In the meantime I got a full time job in the city and no longer needed tutoring for income. I didn’t stop tutoring though, and I felt more alive tutoring for 2hrs in the evening than I did working as a corporate cog. I was respected and recognised by high profile clients, and I just kept getting more and more word of mouth work. So in 2009 I took a paycut of about a third, and committed myself to tutoring full time. The gamble paid off as I earn more than I ever did in any of my previous jobs.


3. What, for you, is the most rewarding aspect of being a tutor?

 

That lightbulb moment when a student finally cracks something is what I live for. You can’t put a price on that feeling. It’s so satisfying to help young people. I can honestly say tutoring never feels like work to me and all my friends know I can never stop talking about it.


4. And now for the other side… what do you find to be the most difficult thing about being a tutor?

 

Tutoring admin is certainly not glamorous. You are running a complex business that entails responding to enquiries swiftly, arranging tutoring diaries, writing feedback to parents, generating invoices, chasing some late payees and getting feedback from clients when the job ends. And then there is the tax return too. It is all part and parcel of being an independent business and the benefits far outweigh the costs. I’m looking to automate a lot of my admin through technology and have a great accountant now who helps keep my books and tax in order.


5. In the subjects you tutor, how do you try to get (or keep) students engaged?

 

I have a very practical, hands on and real element to tutoring both Science and maths. I always absolutely loved making and breaking things as a child and that inspired me to do Engineering. So making things relevant to students is always very important. I do practical demonstrations and also show videos to students. But perhaps the biggest thing that keeps students engaged is I creatively angle the lesson to the child’s hobbies and make the subject relevant to their lives. Maths is everywhere after all. I once tutored a 12 year old cricket mad student how to work out his strike rate in batting, which is basically a percentage. He kept working out his strike rate long after our lesson!


6. With exam season rapidly approaching, what one key revision tip are you always sure to pass on to your students?

 

Exam season is a great time to focus. One thing I always ask students to do is make a tally of the past papers they are doing and to keep their scores. As they do each past paper, and fix issues, the marks rise slowly but surely. Seeing that progress clearly and visually on a table is very satisfying, it lets students know exactly where they are and further motivates them to keep improving.


7. What are some of the lifelong benefits of studying STEM subjects?

 

STEM by its very nature exercises a logical and problem solving part of the brain. And as you get more confident with your subject you also have an inner sense of satisfaction. A good STEM degree opens doors in all areas in life, even if you are not going to go into STEM eventually.


8. As I’m sure you know, Science Week 2017 has just wrapped up for the year. What did you enjoy most about Science Week this year?

 

There were great Science events taking all over the country, the Royal Society in London and the Science Museum as well. Not only that but there are some great TV documentaries on the BBC that can be watched online, we really are spoilt for choice! There are two superb documentaries at the moment, one on BBC 2 about our food, and another one on the Physics of sound on BBC 4.


9. Can you give an idea of what sort of further study and employment opportunities are available for students pursuing STEM, and what routes they could take?

 

There is a shortage of Engineers in the UK at the moment, in all areas of technology in fact. We are in the middle of the digital revolution currently and technological innovation is going faster than ever. Beyond a shadow of doubt the biggest opportunity lies in the world of computing. New and young entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckenberg are changing the face of the world, and are such an inspiration to young people in general. But STEM can really take you into many routes, be that working as doctor, engineer, computer scientist to working in management or like me you could get into teaching. Besides just doing their jobs STEM professionals also have an altruistic nature, and are motivated by making things better in the world, be that things like doctors without borders or Engineers designing the newest green energy power plants.


10. And finally, there is a huge gender gap in STEM fields. What would you say to young girls who may not feel that these subjects are for them?

 

Only 9% of engineering and technology staff in the workplace are female so we have some way to go still. There are some incredible female role models for STEM and young girls can draw great inspiration from them. I would encourage girls to really look at the biographies of such women as Ada Lovelace, Marie Curie and Florence Nightingale. All truly inspiring women who challenged the stereotypes of their time and have paved the way for future generations. Nightingale is known for the nursing movement of course but little known is the fact that she was a meticulous statistician who was able to present data to politicians in clear, visual form and get the necessary funds for the reforms. Her ways of presenting graphs are now used widely and she was a true pioneer and polymath. Ada Lovelace was designing computer programs in the Victorian era and only now is her vision coming into reality. What great inner strength these women had to bring us these things we take for granted today.
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World Book Day 2017: Celebrations and special book recommendations from our tutors

It’s finally here! One of our favourite days of the year at Athena Tuition; Thursday 2nd March 2017 is World Book Day (this year marks the 20th anniversary of WBD). The day is celebrated in over 100 countries across the world, and is set aside to celebrate reading, books, and child literacy. It has become a beloved fixture of the school calendar, encouraging children to be passionate about reading and be proud of the books that they treasure.

In schools up and down the UK today, students and teachers alike will be donning costumes and dressing as their favourite literary characters. This is not only good fun, but is also a wonderful way to allow children to align themselves with their favourite fictional characters and be somebody else for the day. For the shy child, World Book Day is their opportunity to become Hermione Granger or Bilbo Baggins, Matilda or Aslan. It’s a day that encourages creativity, confidence and passion. 

Not only do children dress up as their favourite fictional friends, but every child at school will be presented with a £1 book token. Working in collaboration with National Book Tokens, World Book Day will distribute over 15 million book tokens today. Children can then take their tokens to their local bookstores and swap it for one of this year’s ten £1 books or get £1 off any book of their choice! Further information about the book tokens and the wonderful selection of books on offer this year can be found here at the World Book Day website. Children who are educated at home don’t need to miss out either; if you get in touch with WBD and send them your address, contact name and the names of the children in your care WBD will ensure that they will receive their book tokens. Following the #WorldBookDay hashtags on Twitter and Instagram will also allow home-schooled children to stay engaged with the excitement of the day and watch all the photographs of this year’s costumes rolling in (perhaps for inspiration for next year)!

Whether your child – or you if you are getting involved too – will be dressing up as an Anne of Green Gables or a Horrid Henry, a Heidi or an Oliver Twist, we really do hope you have a wonderful day celebrating the exciting world of literature. We would love to see your World Book Day 2017 costumes or hear what you’ve been reading to celebrate! Do get in touch with us if you’d like your outfit to be featured on our blog!

Two of our lovely tutors have sent in these special recommendations in honour of book day, and discuss why they think it’s so important for children to engage with literature:

“One of my favourite books- which I come back again and again as an adult- is the Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman. We went on a lovely family holiday to Krakow when I was around 13 years old, which I remember very little of, as I walked around the salt mines with a copy in front of me the whole time.

Bruno Bettleheim (the Austrian child psychoanalyst) used fantasy and fairy tales to introduce children to difficult and challenging concepts, and Pullman does this in the most incredible, engaging way. I’d recommend this to a student who enjoys sweeping and challenging storylines, but also to students who find fantasy unrelatable or difficult to get on board with. Lyra is one of the most believable and real characters in children’s literature and she is an inspirational figure. I love her because in fighting the forces that oppress her she shows such bravery, nobility and strength- an example for everyone in standing up for what is right.

Reading is important for children for the exact reason expressed above- it introduces concepts through narration that allow children to work through the situations presented in the text and arrive at their own conclusions, often on a deeper level than they can yet express in class. This means that they have much more emotional maturity and are able to express themselves much more eloquently in comprehension and creative writing.” Johanna

“I would highly recommend the book, Regeneration, by Pat Barker. It is a fictional adaptation of events that took place in Craiglockhart War Hospital (Scotland) in 1917, a hospital in which famous war poets, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, received treatment for shellshock (what we now know as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The plot focusses on the treatment of shellshock victims, both real and fictitious, under the care of army psychiatrist, Dr. William H. R. Rivers, including mute Billy Prior, who is only able to communicate by means of pencil and paper. The story also looks at Dr. Rivers’ personal journey and reaction to the then contemporary attitudes to PTSD and methods of treatment, some of which we would consider brutal today.

Dr. Rivers is employed to enable the soldiers under his care to be well enough to fight once more. However, the closer Rivers comes to helping his patients gain some form of psychological rejuvenation, the more tortuous his every decision to send them back to the front becomes. Pat Barker’s Regeneration is the classic exploration of how the traumas of war had devastating effects on a generation of young men, including soldiers, doctors and civilians.

I came across this book at fifteen years of age, and ten years later I believe that anyone aged fourteen and up who hasn’t read it, should. The book has a captivating plot, and those who read it will benefit greatly from pushing themselves to understand the complex emotional experiences that took place a century ago, and continue to occur in those who have been involved in any sort of deep psychological trauma today. In addition, it is worth knowing something about the psychology of the authors behind such poems as, Dulce et decorum est…, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Suicide in the Trenches and Does It Matter?, which becomes clear in this heart-wrenching yet enlightening tale of woe and war.

I defy anyone who reads the novel not to come away with an increased sensitivity and understanding of the survivors and victims of mental illness (which bears much relevance in today’s society), as well as a more enhanced sense of being and interest in English history and culture.” Charity Mapletoft

Image Source: World Book Day website