Devil's Playground - Personal History

Bright light in Devil's Playground: dr John Mighton "One of my first students was close to failing Grade 8 math. He had been told by his teacher that he wasn't bright enough to do well in the subject. Having struggled with math myself, I decided to observe the boy carefully before I made any judgements about his ability. He proved to be an ideal student. He worked hard and soon developed an interest in mathematics. Because I hadn't assumed that he lacked ability, and because I was lucky enough to work with him for a period of five years, I saw changes in his aptitude that few teachers ever see in their students. In Grade 13, my student did so well in the Sir Isaac Newton physics competition, he was offered a scholarship to Waterloo University, even though he hadn't applied there. He is presently completing a doctorate in mathematics at another university". p. 11 For more examples like the above see John Mighton Ph.D. Math "The Myth of Ability" also "The End of Ignorance. Multiplying Our Human Potential". Dr. John Mighton leads ]]>http://jumpmath.org]]>. I would be interested in starting a new program: "Basic Numeracy for Everybody" - based on the JUMP method. Why? Not so long ago I was shopping at Sobey's - they had a peaches special 99 cents per pound. As everybody else I was not paying attention to the displays at the cash register. As I bought a few kilograms, at home I realized that the total I paid was somewhat high. The next day I went back and paid attention. Their cash registers show prices in kilograms - so 1 kg at 99 cents per pound should be 2.18 dollars. And their cash register showed much more. I had an argument with the supervisor who claimed that nothing can be done, because blah, blah, blah. And I had a flier that proved me right. She managed to change the cash register settings and I paid the correct amount. I went back one day later - and what do I see: they removed the price tag in the peaches bin - so that nobody can question their cash register readings, rather than reprogram the cash registers and charge the customers the advertised prices. I have more examples of total lack of basic numeracy in the general population. If you are interested in the above I will become a volunteer at St. Christopher's House. As I live in the West End - the Queen Street location would be preferable for me. I think that we could get dr. Mighton to give the staff a presentation on the JUMP program. With kind regards, Bogdan