n_article4

U.S. Chess Mates - Article # 4

U.S. Chess Mates

Professional Chess Instruction for Children of all Ages.

"Bringing Chess
Instruction to as
many Children as
Possible"

PAGES

   “Portland Public Schools, Portland Chess Program
                                   June 1997
                        By Shaun P. Huston, Ph.D.

The Portland Chess Club Project was an after-school activity that was
valuable to many students. The goal of the program was to teach young
children aged six to ten to learn to play chess and to see what outcomes
chess might have on their academic performance, self-esteem, and
classroom behavior. There were four aspects of the evaluation results
worth noting.

•      First, in the area of academic achievement, Chess Club students in
grade four had higher mathematics test scores on the Portland
Achievement Levels Test (PALT) scores than their grade level
counterparts in the project schools. This pattern of academic gains
continued among Chess Club participants in fifth grade; these
students had higher reading and mathematics test scores on the
PALT test than other fifth graders in the program schools.

•      Second, students also showed   gains in nonverbal intelligence /
cognition as measured by the Matrix Analogies Test (MAT). Chess
club students gained at least one year in age   equivalency   scores
over a five-month pre - post testing period on the MAT test. These
academic   improvements   were interesting and suggestive findings.
Indeed,   during    the   spring   1996   MAT   testing,   a   Chess Club
Coordinator mentioned improvements in concentration that supported
the   conclusion that chess appears to have a positive affect   on
nonverbal intelligence.

•      Third, parents and school coordinators were extremely supportive of
the Chess Club program. The support of these key groups made a
strong statement about the positive value of the Chess Club program.

•      Finally, based on the available attendance figures, participation
appeared to be good on both a quantitative and qualitative level.
In addition, the chess club was an activity that was attractive to both
male and female students. While the level of students’ academic
benefit due to Chess Club participation has been difficult to quantify,
the qualitative measures provide overwhelming support for the
positive affect of chess as a tool for learning.

It should be noted that the Project will be continued and expanded under
the auspices of the Chess for Success Program. The continuity of the
Chess Club Program will provide an opportunity for further study of chess
and its influence on behavior, thinking skills, academic performance, and
self-esteem. The continuation of the Project also means that students and
parents who have enjoyed and appreciated having Chess Clubs in their
schools will continue to have this valuable learning opportunity.

Other Chess Research

There have been a number of formal studies on the psychological and
cognitive effects of chess on school children.

•      During his governor’s teacher grant from the New Jersey State
Department of Education, William Levy found that chess consistently
(1980-1987) promoted self-esteem after a year of exposure. Many
students’ self-images improved dramatically.

•        The Venezuela “Learning to Think Project,” which trained 100,000
teachers to teach thinking skills and involved 4,266 second grade
students, reached a general conclusion that chess, methodologically
taught, is an incentive system sufficient to accelerate the increase of
IQ in elementary age children of both sexes at all socio-economic
levels.

•      During the 1987-88 “Development of Reasoning and Memory through
Chess,” all students in a rural Pennsylvania sixth grade self-contained
classroom were required to participate in chess lessons and play
games. None of the pupils had previously played chess. The pupils
significantly improved in both memory and verbal reasoning.

•      A 1989-92 New Brunswick, Canada study, using 437 fifth graders split
into   three groups, experimenting with the addition of chess to the
math curriculum, found increased gains in math problem-solving and
comprehension proportionate to the amount of chess in the curriculum.

•      In   a 1994 - 97 Texas study, regular (non - honors) elementary
students who participated in a school chess club showed twice
the improvement of non-chess players in reading and mathematics
between   third and   fifth   grades   on the Texas Assessment of
Academic Skills.

•        Researches and educators have questioned what causes this growth.
The Venezuelan Study claimed:

“Chess develops a new form of thinking, and this exercise is what
contributes to increase the intelligent quotient.” Why does chess have
this impact? Chess provides a large quantity of problems for practice.
Chess offers immediate penalties and rewards for problem solving.
Chess creates a pattern of thinking. The chess playing students had
become accustomed to looking for more and different alternatives,
which resulted in higher scores in fluency and originality. Children love
games. Chess motivates them to become willing problem solvers and
spend hours quietly immersed in logical thinking. These same young
people often cannot sit still for fifteen minutes in the traditional
classroom.

Bibliography
Shaun P. Huston, Ph.D., Consultant Research and Evaluation Department,
“Portland Public Schools Final Evaluation Report of the Portland Chess
Project”, June, 1997.
Robert Ferguson, “Teaching the Fourth ‘R’ (Reflective Reasoning) through
Chess,” doctoral dissertation, 1994.
Rafael Rudela, “Learning to Thing Project,” Commission for Chess in
Schools, 1984.
Robert Ferguson, “Development of Reasoning and Memory through
Chess,” 1988.
Louise Gaudreau, “Etude Comparative sur les Apprentissages en
Mathematiqes 5e Annee,” study comparing the Challenging Mathematics
curriculum to traditional math, 1992.

"Bringing Chess
Instruction to as
many Children as
Possible"

PAGES