Geologist (PhD level) and journalistic writer, much published. I specialize in geology and geography. My career has been in oil and mineral exploration, but I have a good deal of successful teaching

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Although I have a PhD (in geology), I approach all scientific questions from the fundamentals up. Working up from the very basics can decompose even a complex question to its digestible and comprehensible parts, and this helps to reduce confusion and work out an answer.
As well, if you're lost in a lot of trees, try to look at the entire forest first. Raising the review to a higher level can sometimes also help to understand the specific issues.
In my experience, these are skills many school instructors unfortunately don't have, so they make things more confusing than they need to be. If that's the problem, we'll try to bring some more logic into your lesson.