About Sarah

I started tutoring when I was in high school, quickly discovering that I loved teaching. I continued tutoring all throughout college at the University of Washington where I earned a degree in physics with honors. While at the UW, I worked first as a research assistant in the gravity lab, and later for the Physics Education Group, researching how people learn and understand physics concepts. I also tutored students privately and spent three years working for an academic tutoring company.

I became fascinated by all the different ways students learn and think about math and physics, and I wanted to learn how best to tailor my explanations to different learning styles, so I decided to pursue a masters degree in cognitive psychology. I moved to New York and earned my masters in cognition and learning at Columbia University. While there, I took classes on visual-spatial reasoning, cognitive development, neurobiology, child development, and instructional design. I also tutored local high schoolers in math and physics. I did my masters thesis on physics misconceptions.

After that I moved back to Seattle, where I got a job at an educational startup. After working there for a while, I found that I missed teaching too much, so I quit and started tutoring and writing full time.

I’ve been tutoring and writing full time for over a decade, now. I’ve worked with hundreds of students, mostly from the eastside Seattle area, but all over the world as well. Along the way, I’ve taken further classes on dyslexia, dyscalculia, and ADHD. I’m always learning and working on ways to improve my teaching.

Along with tutoring, I write books and create educational materials. I’ve written content for some large learning companies, but I’ve also self-published a few series of books. I’m always experimenting with creative ways to make learning fun and engaging. Currently I’m experimenting with physics worksheets, story-based games, and hands-on activity workbooks. I also write fantasy novels!