Numeracy & Education
Our educational system is failing to deliver critical life-long skills—including quantitative analysis, media literacy, and electoral engagement—so that students become active, informed, and engaged citizens. In the last several years, I’ve dedicated time to learning about and becoming involved in educational initiatives to help change that, including:
- Writing the award-winning Painting by Numbers: How to sharpen your BS detector and smoke out the “experts”
- Holding events at universities and bookstores
- Becoming a member of the Board of Directors and Head of the Curriculum and Student Life Committee, Desert Sage School (a new high school designed around the Waldorf Educational Philosophy)
- Joining the National Numeracy Network (academic association dedicated to numerical literacy)
Select recent invited presentations:
- National Numeracy Network Annual Meeting 2017 – closing plenary lecture
- National Numeracy Network Annual Meeting 2019 – presentation on numerical literacy for new high school
- Arizona Association of Teachers of Mathematics 2017, 2019
- Bucknell University, 2017
- Mathematics Educator Appreciation Day (MEAD), 2018
- Northern Arizona University Math in the Mountains, 2017
- Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI, affiliated with UArizona), 2020
- I also work with entrepreneurs at the University of Arizona judging senior “pitch” competitions, assisting young technology firms get connected to the electricity industry.
PAINTING BY NUMBERS: How to sharpen your BS detector and smoke out the “experts”
(Available at your favorite independent bookstore and online at major retailers like Barnes & Noble and Amazon)
Using examples drawn from polling data, medicine, climate modeling, and more, PAINTING BY NUMBERS is the essential toolkit for evaluating the numbers that shape our lives. How well do you know what you think you know? If you’ve ever pored over election polling data, argued about climate change, or read an article describing the latest study on a topic you care about, PAINTING BY NUMBERS is for you. Written in an entertaining and approachable style and with humorous illustrations to help explain complex modeling concepts, PAINTING BY NUMBERS is an essential tool for making sense of the numbers shaping modern society.
Painting By Numbers won the GOLD IPPY from Independent Publisher and the SILVER in the 2016 Foreword Reviews Indies Awards – SOCIAL SCIENCES
“There’s a desperate need for every literate person to understand this.”
– Dr. Elton McGoun, Accounting and Business Professor, Bucknell University
Stamp out numerical illiteracy at your local schools and neighborhoods!
Give this award-winning book to teachers, parents, and friends! For bulk purchases of 10-20 books shipped directly to you or the person and address of your choice, get 10% off cover price. For 20 and up, we give a 15% discount. Send your order to layladogpress@gmail.com with quantity and address where you want books shipped. Include your phone number in case we need to contact you with any questions. We’ll invoice you and ship your books upon payment.
“I read it without stopping. Some examples are brilliant, some are hilarious. All are disturbingly relevant.”
– Mark Glaess, former Executive Director, Minnesota Rural Electric Commission
“What is truth? Pontius Pilate’s question echoes two millenia later as numbers have become the oracle where we seek the truth. But who is fact-checking- and method checking – the oracles? In the wake of 2016’s wrong predictions, Painting by Numbers provides a prescient look at why Pilate’s question remains unanswered.”
– Dr. Stephen Werner, Religious Educator, Author, and Social Philosopher
“The voice from this book lingers. I thought I normally questioned everything. Now I’m even more consciously aware.”
– Ronald Gombach, The Gombach Group & Livingplaces.com
