About me
My name is David K Butler.
I’m one of the Maths Learning Support lecturers at Adelaide University, and I run various programs including the Maths Learning Centre. The Maths Learning Centre exists to help all students at Adelaide Uni engage with maths wherever they meet it in their coursework.
I did a maths degree, and then a Grad Dip Ed and taught in high schools for a couple of years. Then I went back to Uni and did my PhD in Finite Geometry. After that I got the job as a lecturer of Maths Learning Support. Now I’m doing what I love and helping students learn maths every day.
In the rest of my life, I’m a loving husband, and a father of two beautiful girls. I enjoy reading childrens fiction, designing board and card games, and singing.
About the pages
The pages here collect my work in teaching and learning and art and maths. Click on the menu items to explore.
About the blog
The title Making Your Own Sense of the blog is inspired by a quote from the character the Dodecahedron in the book The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster:
As long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong. If you want sense, you’ll have to make it yourself.
— the Dodecahedron
And that’s what the blog is about: me trying to make sense for myself. Here I talk about the things in my life, including the Maths Learning Centre, and how they relate to maths and teaching and learning.
Latest Blog Posts
- Jenga Views
- Jenga Variations
- More wisdom from the Dodecahedron
- Making Maths Foundations
- Complex lines with i-arrows again
- Gerry-mean-dering
Please note that all content in this blog is my opinion based on my exprerience and may not represent Adelaide University’s views, nor the views of any of its other staff or clients. Also note that before the creation of Adelaide University in 2026, I was working for the University of Adelaide and blog posts during that time should be read in that context.