Why a love of maths did not add up for Eddie Woo

AUSTRALIA’S favourite maths teacher explains why his initial disinterest in the subject makes him the perfect person to teach it.

Australia's favourite maths teacher Eddie Woo shares some of his favourite things. Pictures: Monique Harmer

• WHO: Australia’s favourite maths teacher and YouTube star Eddie Woo

• WHERE: An older house in Baulkham Hills with his wife Michelle and three children aged 5, 7, and 11

• FAVOURITE THING: My acoustic guitar

• HOME IS: Where family is. I do a fair bit of travelling interstate and even internationally. I can sleep anywhere but what hurst me the most is being away from the kids. Thank God for technology — but it’s still hard

EVERYONE has the potential to be a mathematician, says 2018 Australian Local Hero Eddie Woo.

And he says he is living proof.

“If you wanted to find a non-maths person, that was me at school,” he says. “I took all the humanities for the HSC — I never had a passion for maths.”

The talented teacher, who still teaches the subject at Cherrybrook Technology High School in northwestern Sydney, has gained a steady online following with his YouTube channel, affectionately known as WooTube, since he launched it in 2012 to help a student who was missing class because of illness.

Pretty soon, he had a steady following which now stands at 340,000 subscribers and his videos have been viewed more than 18 million times. He has just released his first book, Woo’s Wonderful World Of Maths.

AT HOME WITH SARAH McLEOD

Ironically, he credits his success as a maths teacher to his own lack of ability in the subject while he was at school.

“If you have a teacher that is so good at the subject, sometimes they cannot comprehend what it is like to not understand something,” he says. “That can be somewhat counter productive when you’re an educator.

“The main thing I can bring is the ability to empathise with people if they are struggling to learn something and to find another way into solving the problem.”

Eddie’s success has taken him away from his home in Baulkham Hills that he shares with his wife Michelle and their three young children, as he embarked on national tours for Science Week, and travelled far as Uganda to spread the word — about maths of course.

More:Woo’s Wonderful World Of Maths, $29.99, Pan Macmillan

Pair of elephants: They are from a trip to Uganda a few weeks ago. I went there to visit schools funded by an Australian NGO to help engage kids with maths. To see their joy in learning was a huge privilege.

Headphones: I listen to podcasts voraciously. I love learning about science, history and politics and just the story telling. This American Life is one of my favourites.

Portrait of my mum: She died of lung cancer when I was 18 and she was sick through my later years of school. Her death forced me to grow up and helped me understand what really matters.

Playing cards: These were given to me by a student and they have Australian scenes on them. I like to show people how to do card tricks with maths when I travel to other schools.

Acoustic guitar: I have a strange relationship with music because I was forced the play the piano as a child. But I came to appreciate its beauty. When you have a problem, music can make a huge difference.

Australia’s Local Hero award: I was completely chuffed when the Prime Minister handed this to me. My wife didn’t rate me as a high chance to win it and when I went to Canberra I thought it was great just meeting all these incredible people. It was a shock when I won.

Camera: I use this camera to film my classes. It embodies the way technology has allowed me to open the windows of my classroom. It’s a huge surprise to me that people are watching.

Bible: I became a Christian when I was 14 and I have owned a lot of Bibles. This one has space in the margins for writing. I am rough with it but it has shown me years of love.