Lenore Horner

Teaching Philosophy

Important skills I want to teach my students

I want students to learn to make sense out of mathematical expressions and operations and to use mathematics to explain relationships in the world around them.

Teaching methods to reach these goals

I ask a lot of questions. I have students work challenging problems. I ask students to explain their thought processes. I have students explore situations to see what happens and then tie that understanding back into formal mathematics.

My favorite projects

I’ve had more student comments about the impact of the digital circuits projects my physics students do at the end of the year than about any single other project I do in physics. This year, the students in Multivariable Calculus and I are having a lot of fun with what the students have dubbed “C-day Fun Day”: interesting mathematical explorations that don’t fit in any obvious place in the secondary curriculum. For instance, one week we worked on how to represent tangles (because they are simpler than knots) by a single number and how to untangle the tangle knowing only that number

What I like best about teaching at Seven Hills

The students are enthusiastic about learning and they are very self-motivated.