Initiatives

Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies (JUMP) Math

While it is highly probable that you have heard an adult announce, "I'm really poor at math", it is highly improbable that you have heard an adult announce, "I'm really poor at reading".  Why the difference?  Many people believe that math is an innate ability and/or that it is unnecessary.  Sheila Tobias in Succeed with Math:  Every Student's Guide to Conquering Math Anxiety writes:

There are two myths about mathematics that need to be put to rest.  One is that college-level mathematics is too difficult for otherwise intelligent students to master.  Another is that without mathematics you can live a productive intellectual and professional life.

Canadian John Mighton, founder of JUMP Math, is committed to dispelling these two myths. Not only does JUMP math work for students, it also works for teachers. 


"YouTube - JUMP Math Made Teacher's Life Better." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCWLYAZwIrE>.

As a student Mighton loved math but when he stopped being successful, he accepted society's myth that math is a talent you are born with.  After becoming an award-winning self-taught playwright, he wondered if he could not become a self-taught mathematician.  On his journey to his Ph.D. he began tutoring children.  He recognized a need to foster math confidence as prerequisite to success.  He did this by developing a system that is a modification of the proven teaching process of scaffolding. 

With scaffolding, a teacher supports learning in the learner's zone of proximal development and then removes the support as the learner becomes independent.  Mighton's scaffolding breaks the math process into steps, but each step is practiced separately.  A three step process A → B → C begins with the student showing mastery of A.  Then, the student is given A and shows mastery of B.  Then the student is given A and B and then shows mastery of C before the student is expected to put the three steps together. 

Mighton has found that the math confidence established by his program naturally transfers to other academic and non-academic learning experiences as the student figures if they can learn math, they can learn anything!  Which was always true.

The JUMP program was recently featured in the New York Times at http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/ 2011/04/18/a-better-way-to-teach-math/. Note the positive results found in the randomized study in rural Ontario.  Over a five month period, the JUMP group doubled its academic growth according to a widely used standardized test.

Credenda encourages you to consider implementing JUMP Math. The program works   Teaching materials for Grades 1 to 8 are available at http://jumpmath.org/.  JUMP Math covers the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol curricula. 

Sources
Tobias, Sheila. Succeed with Math: Every Student's Guide to Conquering Math Anxiety. New York: College Entrance Examination Board, 1987. Print.