Teaching the Elegance of the Universe
A playwright and mathematician turned tutor came to realize that a relatively simple pedagogical approach was most effective when engaging his students.
Published March 1, 2005
By William Tucker
Academy Contributor
It was billed as “two imaginative minds in conversation.” Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos, is probably the world’s best explainer of string theory – the latest theory of the “physics of everything.” John Mighton is a talented Canadian playwright, mathematician, and researcher who built a second career teaching math to elementary students in Toronto.
Two Minds and a Quartet
Moderating the evening, at the City University of New York, was Robert Krulwich, the New York ABC-TV correspondent with a bent for scientific subjects. It was all part the CUNY series Science & the Arts, designed as a bridge between two worlds.
What made the evening particularly promising is that Greene and Mighton are collaborating on a play that will attempt to take the concepts of string theory and turn them into a dramatic narrative – with musical accompaniment, no less. “We got together with the director and kicked around how the science might inform the narrative and intertwine with certain musical themes,” said Greene. “Then John goes back and writes up various snippets of scenes and we have actors read them to see how they feel and sound. Then John initiates another roundtable discussion and we go at it again. We’ll have the first full script by November.”
Greene also described another recent project, Strings and Strings, with the Emerson Quartet. “It’s sponsored by the Guggenheim,” he explained. “I talk about the physics in scientific terms, and then I shift into metaphorical language that can apply as well to music. The quartet then takes over and elaborates on that metaphor. People take in the concepts, not just through their heads, but as a full-body experience.”
Taking It Step by Step
All this held promise for some future evenings’ entertainment. But to the delight of some – and the disappointment of others – this night’s discussion revolved almost completely around Mighton’s experiences in tutoring elementary students in Toronto.
“I was completely broke as a playwright and looking for a part-time job,” Mighton recounted. “One day I saw a sign for math tutors. I had taken a calculus course in college and managed to convince the woman that this qualified me for the job. I didn’t tell her my grade.”
Mighton’s first student was a 15-year old boy. “His teacher had told him he was the stupidest kid he ever saw. Having struggled with math myself, I decided to reserve judgment. I worked with him for five years and he turned out to be an ideal student. He’s now doing his doctoral work in math at the University of Toronto.”
Since beginning tutoring 10 years ago, Mighton has founded JUMP – Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies – an educational charity that provides free math tutoring to elementary-level students in Toronto. He also has written a book, The Myth of Ability: Nurturing Mathematical Talent in Every Child, which outlines his philosophy.
Mighton has two basic strategies. First, he presents math in a simple, step-by-step approach that allows mastery of one stage before moving on to the next. Second, he gives the children plenty of encouragement in order to build their confidence.
JUMP-Starting Math
“I started JUMP in my apartment with a couple of my actor friends, many of whom didn’t know much math,” he said. “We asked the local school to send over some children who needed to learn fractions. Somehow they misunderstood and sent over a remedial class.” The experience was daunting. “My first student could barely count to 10. She had never heard of multiplication. She was absolutely terrified. When presented with the simplest concepts, she kept saying, `I don’t understand what you’re saying.’ “
Mighton says he panicked. “I asked her to count to 10 on her fingers. She couldn’t do it at first but gradually relaxed. Then we began skip-counting by twos and threes. Pretty soon she got the hang of it. I told her she was brilliant. Her mother told me the next day that she had a nightmare that she wouldn’t be allowed to return to tutoring.”
After three years his student had moved back into mainstream classes. She is now working a year ahead of her grade on some subjects.
Mighton’s methods involve lots of guided exercise in the early stages of the program, which puts him at odds with most of the educational schools. “When I wrote this book, I didn’t realize I’d stepped into these math wars,” he said.
“I’m not advocating a swing back to rote learning. What’s happening today, however, is that they expect kids to discover whole concepts. In grade four they now expect kids to discover their own algorithm for division.
“In eight centuries Roman Civilization never discovered an efficient division algorithm. It’s a bit unrealistic to expect children to discover it in one morning.”
Every Child a Prodigy
Greene weighed in on behalf of rote learning. “When people learn some advanced concept in mathematics or physics, they don’t usually swallow it whole,” he said.
“Oftentimes they pick it apart bit by bit. By rote, by calculating, by imbedding yourself into the details and doing it over and over, somehow you get it. The process of rote has gotten a bad reputation, but it is a very, very powerful tool in the service of education.”
“It’s like Ted Williams and these hitters who you assume just have great ability,” said Krulwich, the moderator. “But when they get into the batting cage, they hit and hit and hit and hit and hit.” Mighton added the words of one of the century’s greatest mathematicians, John Von Neumann: “Math is a matter of getting used to things.”
