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Engineering ‘Aha’ Moments in Middle School Math
Yun Choe ’92 started out as an aspiring engineer, earning a degree in civil engineering at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana. While his passion for engineering wasn’t translating into his work, he discovered a love for math and teaching. Lucky for Punahou students, Choe made the switch to education and earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Hawai‘i. He taught at King Intermediate for 10 years, in China for six years, and returned to Hawai‘i in 2018 to teach eighth grade math at Punahou. When he’s not in the classroom, you can find him spending time with his daughter, cooking delicious food, playing golf and watching Korean variety shows.
What values or lessons do you aim to instill in your students?
One of my pet peeves is when I hear people say “I’m not a math person.” People and students who say this may have had bad math experiences, but I believe that everyone can learn math. If given the right support and time, you will thrive in math. Overcoming that mindset starts with building confidence and finding the ways in which you learn the material best. That is why I do my best to deliver my lessons in multiple ways and reiterate in the classroom that mistakes are not bad. Mistakes are truly opportunities to learn and if you’ve never failed, you’ve never learned. I want my students to have the grit and determination to keep persevering in math.
What excites you about teaching?
I love connecting with students to help them realize their full potential. When you see a student struggle with a problem but support them to reach their ‘aha’ moment, that gives me so much joy. Seeing that spark grow over the course of a semester, a year, is so exciting. My background in engineering has taught me many things that affect my teaching. One of the cornerstones of engineering is learning how to problem solve on the fly, and as a teacher I find that to be super critical. Each day in the classroom I will have a planned lesson and something might not work the first time around, but my background and skills in engineering give me the tools to make those real-time adjustments. I really love the spontaneity of teaching.
Your students learn so much from you, but is there anything you’ve learned from them?
I learn from them all the time! Every few years, I learn the new language and slang they use. These days my students love saying “skibidi,” “sigma” and “aura points” which always make me laugh. Also, there have been many times when my students have approached a problem in a way I’ve never thought of. They show me new ways to look at a math problem and use clever analogies that give me insight into their thinking.
Why is eighth grade a special year in a student’s time at Punahou?
Eighth grade is the bridge between childhood and adulthood, where you are entering your teen years and developing who you are. It is the time to explore, learn and discover more independently. Our team does a great job of talking to students about life in the Academy, instilling good study habits and preparing them to manage the freedoms presented in high school. I think that having a trusted adult is super important for students, and that’s why I try to make myself available. Whether they have questions or need a quiet space, I want to be able to provide my support in any way I can.
What do you hope to accomplish in the coming years?
I always want to continue growing and developing as a teacher. But pertaining to Punahou, the Middle School Math Department has been through some recent changes in the last four years, especially post-COVID-19. I want to continue to work with my colleagues to refine and develop how we are approaching eighth grade math to seamlessly integrate the previous grade levels and high school curriculum.
– Sophia Howell ’26
