Math tutoring program offers discussion-based learning

ThinkTank Tuesdays is a new resource in the Student Union available to University of Toledo students who are seeking free algebra tutoring.

Organized by Michele Martinez, executive director of academic support, ThinkTank Tuesdays take place in Student Union Room 2562 every Tuesday from 3-5 p.m. Sessions focus on a different basic algebra topic each meeting.

The discussion-based tutoring sessions began Jan. 20, according to Martinez.

“The program was initiated basically to take tutoring out of the library and take it to where the students are, and one of the places the students are is the Student Union,” Martinez said.

Dan Ita, a fourth-year majoring in education, is the tutor who leads the meetings at ThinkTank Tuesdays. He said the focus was for students to get more reinforcement in the concepts they were learning in class.

“The idea for it was to get more general reinforcement closer within people’s peer groups, can correct misconceptions or clarify things that need clarifying,” Ita said. “It’s just to fill in the nooks and crannies with whatever questions they may have lingering once they get out of lecture.”

Ita said this program is different from other tutoring resources available to students in a couple of ways.

“Because it’s so new, there’s definitely more face-time with the person that’s helping you, because it’s just me and so far not many people have utilized it,” Ita said. “It’s also different because it’s more conceptual.”

Joe McVeen, a fourth-year electrical engineering student, does not think this new program is different from the tutoring sessions that the university already has in place.

“I don’t see how much it differs from the study tables downstairs in terms of effectiveness on the student end,” McVeen said.

Robert Kiser, a first-year engineering major and one of the students who attends ThinkTank Tuesdays, said there is nothing wrong with the program, just that he wishes more students would use it.

“I knew that he [Dan] was going to be teaching here today and he just puts math in terms that I can understand and I’ve been away from school for so long that I need that,” he said.

Kiser also said the program has helped him succeed in his classes.

However, Ita said the program is being underutilized. So far, no students attended the first week, one student attended the second week, and two students attended Feb. 3.

“People who struggle in math tend to be people who aren’t very social about wanting to practice math,” McVeen said. “They kind of think like ‘I suck at math’ and people aren’t usually willing to express their weaknesses.”

McVeen also said the time the program is held may contribute to the lack of students in attendance.

“In my experience probably a little bit later, between five and seven, would be more universally available to people,” McVeen said. “Three to five, a lot of classes are finishing up then.”

Ita said part of the reason why so few students have used this program is because if they spend enough time at the study tables over the semester, they receive extra credit.

“They get, I think, 3 percent extra credit just tacked on to their grade for just using a university resource,” Ita said. “This is great, they should have some motivator to do that, but because of that, there’s no incentive of them coming here.”

McVeen said the two-hour-long sessions were just short enough to keep students’ attention for the duration; however, if there were incentives involved, the classes could go longer.

“I’d say it’s probably a decent amount of time. Any more than that would be too much,” McVeen said.

Ita said if students plan on coming to these meetings, there are a few things that they should come prepared with.

“Have some questions ready,” Ita said. “So far it has been pretty fluid. People will come in and we can talk about whatever they want to talk about. Really, just prepared to come here as they would be to go to their professor’s office hours.”