Are you one of Murphy's kids? 

If you "did strings with Murphy" when you were in school, you are invited to join us in passing the baton to the next generation. Jim Murphy and I are rolling-out after-school and weekend workshops and a unique summer program for 'tweens. We will also be taking lots of video and photos for our interactive, how-to website. If you are in the NYC area and interested in participating in any way, or if you are just curious and want to re-connect, we'd love to hear from you.   we'd love to hear from you!!.

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Open Workshop for Learning and Teaching Strings:
Learn to Learn with Strings
Fridays 3:30PM - 5:30PM

Open to everyone aged 9 and up. Please RSVP, so we know how may people to expect (space is somewhat limited). ...but don't hesitate to just stop by if you are in the neighborhood.

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A personal note from Lisa Bowstead

Jim Murphy is a retired teacher of Mathematics in the NYC public schools. He taught at LaGuardia HS for many years. Murphy taught my Honors Math class for three years. For me, he made all the difference.

Murphy was one of the first people to teach me that anyone can learn anything. Of course, some people need to work harder than others, and whether they do so is a personal choice. Murphy's point, however, was always the first part: that anyone can learn anything.

Murphy's string figures are cool. Anyone can learn to do them: it's just strings on your fingers. In Math class, he always had extra strings to hand-out (but we put them away when it was time to do math). 

The really cool thing about the strings is that while students are having fun and building confidence, something more important is happening: they are developing their cognitive strength by stimulating growth of the parts of the brain that are responsible for creative thinking and problem solving. 

Ingenious! 

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Here is more information about Jim Murphy's string figures: 

Teaching Math with String Figures 
a lecture concerning using string figures for the education of young children. St Peters University, Jersey City, NJ 11-1-14

why string figures: an educational revolution 
by james r murphy

String Theory: Can Cat’s Cradle Help Save Our Schools?

String Figures and Early Higher Cognitive Learning

torusflex
string figures and poetry (by james r murphy)