Educational Value of Learning Chess
The value of chess is not about Kings, Queens, or even checkmate, but rather, quadrants and coordinates, using your imagination, thinking strategically and foreseeing consequences. It's about geometry, lines and angles, critical thinking and making decisions.
Could it be that Chess is the perfect teaching and learning tool. At the International Chess Institute, since 1999, we have worked with students from grades K-12 and their teachers to promote the use of chess as an educational tool. At the heart of our mission is utilizing chess as a tool, to increase cognitive development and higher level thinking skills, advance math and reading skills, improve critical thinking skills, and build self-confidence.
Research has proven the direction educational benefits between learning to play chess and academic achievement. In fact, a landmark study discovered that students who received chess instruction scored significantly higher on all measures of academic achievement. This included math, spatial analysis, and non-verbal reasoning ability (Smith and Cage, 2000).
Chess makes Kids Smart! Furethermore, Chess has a unique and strong brand attribute, in that most people perceive that playing chess and being smart are connected. Studies have also indicated that if children associate school and learning with fun, they will develop a stronger attachment to school. Playing and studying chess increases the rentention and student participation rate, which decreases the increasing dropout rate which plagues hundreds of schools in the U.S annually.
Did you know chess is multi-lingual? Chess is a universal game with consistency of rules worldwide. Research has indicated there are virtually no language barries to learning chess. One superintendent stated, "We have 25 different languages spoken in our school district, and chess is one of them."
ICI's innovative curriculum was developed by leading curriculum professionalsl. It is designed uniquely to connect with all state and national academic standards. One clear example of academic connect is evident as students learn about the chessboard, they are taught that each square has a name/location. Each square be found using coordinates, a set of letters, numbers, or a number and a letter, that tell you the exact location of something. While children are having fun calling out the names of the squares they begin realizing that they are having fun learning geometry. Imagine that children as young as 5 mastering elements of geometry. Kids frequently comment, "I never new learning math can be this much fun."
Isn't it time children have fun while learning?
Chess Makes Kids Smart! It't time to support chess in your local school.
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Reference
Smith, J. P. and Cage, B. N. (2000). The effects of chess instruction on the mathematics achievements of southern, rural, black secondary students. Research in the Schools, 7, 19-26.
E-mail: info@smartpawn.org