Eddie Woo

{{Infobox adult biography

| name = Eddie Woo

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100|FRSN}}

| image = Eddie Woo, February 2019 01 (cropped).jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Woo in 2023

| birth_name = Edward Kent Woo

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1985}}

| birth_place = Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia

| education = James Ruse Agricultural High School

| alma_mater = University of Sydney

| occupation = High school teacher

| years_active = 2007–present

| employer = NSW Department of Education

| known_for = Online mathematics lessons

| television =

| spouse = Michelle Woo

| children = 3

| website = {{URL|misterwootube.com}}

}}

Edward Kent Woo is an Australian secondary school teacher and writer best known for his online mathematics lessons published on YouTube. In 2018, Woo was awarded the Australia's Local Hero Award.{{Cite web|date=25 January 2018|title=Australia's Local Hero 2018|url=https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/peterdutton/Pages/Australia%27s-Local-Hero-2018.aspx|url-status=live|access-date=10 February 2021|website=Department of Home Affairs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317224147/http://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/peterdutton/Pages/Australia's-Local-Hero-2018.aspx |archive-date=17 March 2018 }}

Early life

Woo's ethnic Chinese parents migrated to Australia from Malaysia around 1970 for better education opportunities for their children. He has an older brother, who works in IT, and an older sister, who is a dentist.{{cite web |url=https://www.australiaday.com.au/events/australia-day-address/2018-speaker-eddie-woo/ |title=2018 speaker: Eddie Woo |accessdate=25 January 2018 |date=23 January 2018 |work=Australia Day Address}} Woo studied at the James Ruse Agricultural High School in Sydney and completed his Higher School Certificate in 2003, placing in the top band for Mathematics Extension 1 and English Extension 2.{{cite web|url=https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/ebos/static/DSACH_2003_12_W13.htm |title= 2003 Higher School Certificate |accessdate=5 May 2020}} He earned his Bachelor of Education (Honours) in Secondary Mathematics and Information Technology from the University of Sydney in 2008.{{Cite web|url=https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2018/12/13/top-teacher-eddie-woo-appointed-education-ambassador.html|title=Top teacher Eddie Woo appointed Education Ambassador|date=13 December 2018|website=The University of Sydney|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223095931/https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2018/12/13/top-teacher-eddie-woo-appointed-education-ambassador.html|archive-date=23 February 2019|url-status=live|access-date=23 February 2019}}

Career

Woo started his career with a brief stint as a technology teacher at the Fort Street High School in 2007, before moving to James Ruse Agricultural High School, where in 2008 he held the position of Teacher Mathematics and Technology. He stayed until 2013 before becoming Head Teacher of Mathematics at Cherrybrook Technology High School.{{Cite web|url=https://au.linkedin.com/in/misterwootube|title=LinkedIn: Eddie Woo|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}} Woo remains there as a classroom teacher, but also serves as Leader of Mathematics Growth for the NSW Department of Education. As of 2024, he has taught mathematics for over 16 years. He began filming his classroom lessons in 2012 for a sick student who was absent from school.{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalteacherprize.org/person/|title=Eddie Woo|website=Varkey Foundation|language=en|access-date=2020-04-01}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} His YouTube channel has over 1.79 million subscribers and more than 162.73 million views worldwide as of December 2023. He has 1.74 million subscribers and 156.57 million views, Channel Statistics |website=SocialBlade|access-date=31 July 2023}} In 2018, Woo hosted a show called Teenage Boss on ABC ME, which gave teens control of their family's financial decisions for a month.{{cite news |title=Here's what happens when teens take control of the family budget for a month |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-22/teenage-boss-shows-teens-taking-on-family-budget-with-eddie-woo/9894530 |accessdate=23 June 2018 |work=ABC News |date=22 June 2018 |language=en-AU}} In June 2018, Woo delivered a TEDx Talk titled "Mathematics is the sense you never knew you had",{{Cite web|url=https://tedxsydney.com/talk/mathematics-is-the-sense-you-never-knew-you-had-eddie-woo/|title=Mathematics is the sense you never knew you had {{!}} Eddie Woo|website=TEDxSydney|language=en-AU|access-date=2020-04-01}} which garnered a lot of positive attention online.

Woo has so far published two books. The first, titled Woo's Wonderful World of Maths, was published on 25 September 2018. It addresses questions like "Why are rainbows curved?" and "Why aren't left-handers extinct?", with the answer being: maths, and that maths is all about patterns with the universe is extraordinarily patterned.{{Cite news|url=https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760554217/|title=Woo's Wonderful World of Maths - Pan Macmillan AU|work=Pan Macmillan Australia|access-date=2018-10-06|language=en-US}} The second, Eddie Woo's Magical Maths, is a children's activity book.

In September 2022, Woo co-hosted high-school television series Ultimate Classroom, an educational STEM competition sponsored by the Australian Defence Force,{{cite web |last=Knox |first=David |date=8 September 2022 |title=Airdate: Ultimate Classroom |url=https://tvtonight.com.au/2022/09/airdate-ultimate-classroom.html |access-date=23 August 2023 |website=TV Tonight |publisher=TV Tonight}} alongside presenter Stephanie Bendixsen.

Awards

In October 2015, Woo was a joint recipient of the NSW Premier's Prize for Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education.{{Cite web|url=http://www.chiefscientist.nsw.gov.au/premiersprizes/previous-winners|title=Honour Roll – NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer|website=chiefscientist.nsw.gov.au|access-date=24 May 2017|archive-date=14 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814204702/https://www.chiefscientist.nsw.gov.au/premiersprizes/previous-winners|url-status=dead}}

He was one of ten teachers to win the inaugural Choose Maths Awards on 26 August 2016.{{cite news|last1=Mahony|first1=Mikaela|title=Excellence award for Wootube master|url=http://www.hillsnews.com.au/story/4129737/excellence-award-for-wootube-master/|website=Hills News|publisher=Fairfax Regional Media|accessdate=1 February 2018|date=30 August 2016|archive-date=1 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201193056/http://www.hillsnews.com.au/story/4129737/excellence-award-for-wootube-master/|url-status=dead}}

In April 2017, Woo won the 2017 University of Sydney Young Alumni Award for Outstanding Achievement.

In March 2017, he was one of 12 Australian teachers to win a Commonwealth Bank Teaching Award, a prestigious national awards event co-presented each year by the Commonwealth Bank and education charity Schools Plus.

In November 2017, he was named 2018 NSW Local Hero.{{cite news |last1=Harmer|first1=Wendy |last2=Buck|first2=Robbie |title=Changing minds on maths |url=http://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/breakfast/eddie-woo-2018-nsw-local-hero/9148694 |accessdate=1 February 2018 |work=Breakfast |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=14 November 2017 }}

Woo gave the Australia Day Address in NSW in 2018, the first time a teacher has done so.{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Alexandra|title=Maths teacher Eddie Woo to deliver the Australia Day address in NSW|url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/maths-teacher-eddie-woo-to-deliver-the-australia-day-address-in-nsw-20180118-h0kbmx.html|accessdate=1 February 2018|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=18 January 2018}}

On 25 January 2018, Woo won the Australia's Local Hero Award at the Australian of the Year Awards.{{cite news |title=Quantum physicist is Australian of the Year|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-42813214 |accessdate=1 February 2018 |work=BBC News|date=25 January 2018}}

In March 2018, Woo was named a Top 10 Finalist in the Global Teacher Prize.{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalteacherprize.org/media/3941/gtp-top-10-ewoo-short-summary-2018.pdf|title=Eddie Woo, Top 10 Finalist Summary|website=Global Teacher Prize|access-date=6 October 2018|archive-date=6 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006194703/https://www.globalteacherprize.org/media/3941/gtp-top-10-ewoo-short-summary-2018.pdf|url-status=dead}}

In May 2019, Woo received an Honorary Fellowship from Western Sydney University.{{Cite web |url=https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/more_news_stories/western_sydney_university_celebrates_20_inspiring_individuals_during_graduations|title=Western Sydney University celebrates 20 inspiring individuals during graduations |last=Patience |first=Clare |website=www.westernsydney.edu.au |language=en |access-date=2019-05-05}}

In September 2019, Woo became a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.{{Cite web|url=https://royalsoc.org.au/about-us/fellows|title=Fellows - The Royal Society of NSW|website=royalsoc.org.au|access-date=2019-09-27|archive-date=27 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927051802/https://royalsoc.org.au/about-us/fellows|url-status=dead}}

In February 2021, Woo received the Mathical Honors for It's a Numberful World: How Math Is Hiding Everywhere.{{Cite news|title=Mathical Book Prizes 2021|url=https://www.mathicalbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Mathical_Booklist_Web_2021.pdf}}

Personal life

Woo is a committed Christian, stating, "We talk about the fact that the universe is designed in this way and you can find all of these patterns; do you think that that's a coincidence? One of the things I love to point out is we call the universe the cosmos which means ordered and structured and designed, as opposed to chaos, and the reason why we can find these mathematical principles is because there was a Designer. We didn't just spring into being. It has immense beauty."{{Cite news |url=https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/maths-is-beautiful-wait-what/|title=Maths is beautiful... wait, what? |last=Lim |first=Anne |date=2018-01-25 |work=Eternity News |access-date=2020-07-24| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722103513/https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/maths-is-beautiful-wait-what/|archive-date=22 July 2018|url-status=live}}

Woo is married and has three children.{{cite news |last1=Baillie |first1=Rebecca |title=Meet the maths teacher you wish you had in high school |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-01/teacher-eddie-woo-changing-the-face-of-maths/8472522 |accessdate=1 February 2018 |work=ABC News |date=1 May 2017}}