The End of Ignorance: Multiplying Our Human Potential.

Drawing on his extensive experience as a math tutor and instructor, as well as recent neurological and genetic research, John Mighton’s The End of Ignorance is an inspiring book for teachers and parents who want children to excel in learning. The work is not only easy to read but also full of concrete examples of teaching strategies, as well as real-life case examples from Mighton’s after-school tutoring program called JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies). Each chapter has clever titles such as “The Emergent Mind” and “Anthills and Holograms,” where the author describes his philosophy about learning and provides specific strategies for improving student instruction. Research support is provided in an appendix at the end of the book.

Mighton is quick to point out that this book is not intended as criticism of teachers, who in his opinion are “engaged in heroic work.” Rather, he developed these methods because he saw so many educators struggling to teach in large, diverse classrooms, without the proper tools to facilitate learning. Mighton calls his technique “guided discovery,” encouraging students to be active as they learn and to gain a deeper understanding at a conceptual level, resulting in confidence gains and greater engagement. The author feels that “by having to compete and be compared to their peers, many [students] lose faith in their intelligence.” Mighton is convinced that the brain can develop new abilities more readily than traditional theories of intelligence allow, and children who face challenges at school are capable of far more than we expect of them.

Throughout the book, Mighton describes the methods and results of the JUMP program, but that is not the primary purpose of the book, nor is its focus primarily mathematics. It is Mighton’s hope that this book provide general strategies to improve student learning and may help teachers’ jobs become easier and more enjoyable. In the reviewer’s opinion, The End of Ignorance is a passionate book about how to improve student engagement and Mighton achieves his goal.