> Once you understand the why, the how becomes so much easier.
The interesting thing is how each student has a different path to understand the "how". It sounds like you have particularly vivid mental imagery, and gravitate towards visualizations for solving problems. This isn't true for everyone; it's not necessarily aphantasia but a unit circle or slope/area curve just isn't as useful for some as it is for you, others might prefer to think in terms of limits or series or patterns or a myriad of other techniques. You can repeat "The derivative is the slope of the curve" until you're blue in the face but some people just won't 'get it', finding the means by which they can get it is the fun part.
The interesting thing is how each student has a different path to understand the "how". It sounds like you have particularly vivid mental imagery, and gravitate towards visualizations for solving problems. This isn't true for everyone; it's not necessarily aphantasia but a unit circle or slope/area curve just isn't as useful for some as it is for you, others might prefer to think in terms of limits or series or patterns or a myriad of other techniques. You can repeat "The derivative is the slope of the curve" until you're blue in the face but some people just won't 'get it', finding the means by which they can get it is the fun part.