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John Mighton and Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies (JUMP)
By Nicole Zummach
September 18th, 2006
TORONTO, ON // Reading, writing and arithmetic have long been considered the three fundamentals of elementary education. And of these three, arithmetic - and all branches of mathematics - seems to strike the most fear in the hearts of students, teachers, and parents alike. But it doesn't have to be that way, and according to mathematician John Mighton, it shouldn't be that way. Though he almost failed first-year Calculus in university, Mighton's love of math and his belief that everyone has great mathematical potential led him to found Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies (JUMP) in 1998.
JUMP's goal is to build math literacy by providing teachers and educators with a unique program that encourages children to discover mathematical principles for themselves through games, magic tricks, puzzles, and "toy" models of problems. The results so far have been impressive, attracting international attention, including that of Ashoka, which selected Mighton as a Canadian Fellow in 2004. CharityVillage spoke with him about the method he developed to teach mathematics to children, the success of JUMP and what's next for his organization.
CharityVillage: You are not only a mathematician but also an accomplished author and playwright. Perhaps you could begin by telling me a bit about your varied background, particularly the connection you see between art and science.

John Mighton: I think that it shouldn't be unusual for people to have careers in several fields, even in fields that they think are very disparate, like science and art. The fact that so few people do both is simply due to our system of education. I think that math is actually the easiest subject for kids if it's taught well. There is no reason more students shouldn't excel in mathematics and the sciences. It's very unfortunate that by the time kids graduate from high school they'll be lucky if they think there is one subject that is not either boring or beyond their grasp. That's why I started JUMP, because I think that is totally unnecessary.
Also, I think more and more adults are turning back to science and mathematics because they realize there is a great deal of beauty in those subjects, as well as mystery and elegance. They are realizing that they missed out on something at school. And again, that is what we want to give students access to, to allow them to appreciate the beauty of the world on a deeper level.

CV: Why do you think many young people don't excel in mathematics within the current system of education? Where does the problem lie?

JM: It's mainly the materials and training teachers are given, I believe. I'd like to make it perfectly clear that teachers are really my heroes. We work with many absolutely wonderful teachers, but they are suffering from lack of support and lack of decent materials that will allow them to reach all the kids in their class. Many teachers are, themselves, a little afraid of math and they are not provided with materials that make it easy for them to understand the math. We try and show teachers, among other things, how to reduce concepts to their most basic elements. We also try to show them how to build confidence in the classroom.

We offer some one-on-one tutoring after school through our volunteers. But, more and more, we are setting up networks of teachers who can train each other and use our materials. We do demonstration lessons on video; we provide workbooks for teachers and teachers' guides that help them teach.
CV: What has the reception been like from teachers?

JM: It's been great. The program is growing exponentially. We double in size every year in terms of the number of books distributed and so on. I'll give you an example of the reception in the London borough of Lambeth. The Director of Primary Strategy tried JUMP in about 24 schools and recently wrote us to say that the response from teachers was universally positive. They observed very significant changes in the children, both in confidence and academic ability. The pilot was deemed such a success that they are now scaling it up to the whole school board. They just ordered materials for five thousand kids. And that's just the beginning.

Another example is in Vancouver, where a group of teachers took the lead and formed a steering committee, tried the program, and then took the results to the administration, who are now going to pay to have teachers trained as JUMP trainers. That is happening a lot out west. We are getting support from Edmonton and Winnipeg as well.
The good thing about it is that it's largely driven by teachers. If you try to dump things on teachers from the top down, it often fails. We really try and get teachers passionate about the program and help them to understand how it will help them in the classroom. Then they see the results, and the results really speak for themselves. That's why the program is growing so quickly. We don't have the resources of a major textbook company but we are still growing extremely quickly because teachers see that it works.
CV: So, how does your method differ from simply opening a textbook and working on problems?

JM: One of the teachers in London said that after using the JUMP materials many teachers realized that what they thought was one step was actually four or five steps. With anything, you can always find a way of reducing it to something simpler. For instance, with long division if you are trying to divide three into seventy-four, most people will teach the whole method or algorithm and it's just too much for the kids, too many steps, too much to retain. They don't actually understand why they are doing it.
So we would start just by having them understand that they are making three groups. They are trying to divide seventy-four things into three groups. And that is all they have to answer. They could show it with a model or on paper. They simply have to say how many groups are being made and how many things are being put in each group. They understand why they are doing it and what it means, but they also don't have to retain too much information at the same time.

CV: Given your tremendous growth in the past few years, what's next for JUMP?

JM: We are really scaling up our research. We have hundreds of anecdotes - which I think are powerful in themselves - and hundreds of supporters, but we want to have more rigorous documentation of the effects [of the JUMP program], and also for our own purposes to see what we need to improve. We have quite a few opportunities now with school boards that are keeping track of what's happening. We have some pilots running with the education departments at a few universities, where professors are running studies of JUMP. We also have some clinical psychologists who are hoping to eventually help us run neurological studies of the kids.

My interest is to produce kids who love and can do math at a high level. So, we are constantly producing new materials. We are finishing the standard curriculum for grades 1-8, and we are going to be producing problem-solving guides for teachers, and enriched units for all kids. They introduce really beautiful ideas from science or art or music and show their connection with mathematics. Then people will see the full scope of the JUMP program.
CV: How did becoming an Ashoka Fellow impact your work?

JM: It's impacted me in a number of ways. First of all, the financial support was invaluable. Secondly, I learned so much from talking to other fellows, and by attending meetings and conferences with them. It helped shape some of my strategic thinking. The connections with fellows and the introductions we've had, I think, have helped us get some foundation grants in Canada and connect us with educators and funders. And in general, the level of inspiration I've received - it's sometimes very difficult to do this kind of work. To see other people fighting the same battles and struggling with some of the same things is quite inspiring.

John Mighton is a mathematician, a bestselling author, an award-winning playwright, and the founder of JUMP Math. For more information about JUMP's research or to become a partner or receive training, visit: www.jumpmath.org.

To learn more about the Ashoka Fellowship program, visit: www.ashoka.org.