I did fairly well in maths, and I still resonated with this. It wasn't until I was deep into university that I realized that higher level maths were a game of s

I did fairly well in maths, and I still resonated with this. It wasn't until I was deep into university that I realized that higher level maths were a game of sorts. I enjoyed it to a point, but found myself asking "what's the point?". Calculus was an exception because it really does start with "how do we find an area under a curve" and ties in closely with the physics concepts of finding velocity/acceleration/jerk. I think bringing interesting problems to students and enabling them to think about those problems naturally before introducing abstract concepts is always the way to go. Teaching inquisitiveness and building confidence that they can solve problems will serve them far better than more multiplication memorization.