WHY CHESS?  It Develops GRIT!

In the book, "How Children Succeed", Paul Tough argues the need for assessment and development of "grit" as studied by Angela Duckworth at The University of Pennsylvania. Duckworth explains below her findings. She and Tough conclude that efforts are needed to develop "grit."  Character Chess is one of the only interventions unique designed to address this concern.

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“Teach children to win at Chess and Life.”

Coach Hodge explains how Character Chess teaches children strategies for becoming a winning person through 10 character lessons.

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Here's what the research says about Chess.

In a 1987 study, Horgan found that children learn chess differently than adults: “While adults seem to progress toward expertise from a focus on details to a more global focus, children seem to begin with a more global, intuitive emphasis.” She suggests this might be a more efficient way of learning, with rapid judgements forcing “the integration of a child’s rapidly expanding knowledge base” (Horgan, 1987, p. 9).

In a Texas study of 571 regular (non-honors) elementary school students, Liptrap (1997) found the 67 who participated in a school chess club showed twice the improvement of 504 non-chessplayers in Reading and Mathematics standard scores between third and fifth grades on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills.

In a 1992 New Brunswick, Canada, study, using 437 fifth graders split into three groups, experimenting with the addition of chess to the math curriculum, Gaudreau found increased gains in math problem-solving and comprehension proportionate to the amount of chess in the curriculum (Ferguson, 1995, p. 11).

In a Zaire study conducted by Dr. Albert Frank, employing 92 students age 16-18, the chess-playing experimental group showed a significant advancement in spatial, numerical and administrative-directional abilities, along with verbal aptitudes, compared to the control group. The improvements held true regardless of the final chess skill level attained (Ferguson, 1995, p. 2).

A four-year study in the United States, though not deemed statistically stable due to some switching of students between the control groups and experimental group, has the chess-playing experimental group consistently outperforming the control groups engaged in other thinking development programs, using measurements from the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Ferguson, 1983).

The Venezuela "Learning to Think Project," which trained 100,000 teachers to teach thinking skills, and which involved a sample of 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 (Ferguson, 1995, p.8).

The New York City Schools Chess Program included more than 3,000 inner-city children in more than 100 public schools between 1986 and 1990. Based on academic and anecdotal records only, Palm (1990) states that the program has proven:

• Chess dramatically improves a child's ability to think rationally.
• Chess increases cognitive skills.
• Chess improves children's communication skills and aptitude in recognizing patterns, therefore:
• Chess results in higher grades, especially in English and Math studies.
• Chess builds a sense of team spirit while emphasizing the ability of the individual.
• Chess teaches the value of hard work, concentration, and commitment.
• Chess instills in young players a sense of self-confidence and self-worth.
• Chess makes a child realize that he or she is responsible for his or her own actions and must accept the consequences.
• Chess teaches children to try their best to win, while accepting defeat with grace.
• Chess provides an intellectual, competitive forum through which children can assert hostility, i.e. "let off steam," in an acceptable way.
• Chess can become a child's most eagerly awaited school activity, dramatically improving attendance.
• Chess allows girls to compete with boys on a non-threatening, socially acceptable plane.
• Chess helps children make friends more easily because it provides an easy, safe forum for gathering and discussion.
• Chess allows students and teachers to view each other in a more sympathetic way.
• Chess, through competition, gives kids a palpable sign of their accomplishments.
• Chess provides children with a concrete, inexpensive and compelling way to rise above the deprivation and self-doubt which are so much a part of their lives (Palm, 1990, pp. 5-7).
• A study by Margulies (1993) using a sub-set of the New York City Schools Chess Program produced statistically significant results concluding that chess participation enhances reading performance. A related study, conducted in two U.S. cities over two years, selected two classrooms in each of five schools. The group receiving instruction in chess and logic obtained significantly higher reading scores than the control groups, which received additional classroom instruction in basic education (reading, math or social studies) (Margulies, 1993).
  

Edutech Chess-2001 (online) 
http://www.edutechchess.com/whychess.html

Created by Coach Harlan B. Hodge, MSW, Leadership and Character Coach