Studies on Educational Value of Chess
Are you interested in reviewing studies about the educational value of chess and the benefits of learning to play it? Several articles by ChessKid examine this topic, and research reports by leading professionals also identify the value of learning chess for school children.Articles By ChessKid About Studies
As described in articles on the ChessKid website, the following research reports, presentations, and studies may be helpful for you:
- Can Chess Benefit Stem Skills? proposes that ChessKid.com is useful as a unique teaching tool to introduce scientific methodology in a classroom or home. Chess puzzles and lessons help teach students how to think their way through solving complex problems.
- The Case for Chess as a Tool to Develop Our Children’s Minds, a report by Dr. Peter Dauvergne of the University of Sydney, examines the educational and psychological benefits of studying and playing chess for children.
- Chess Education Is a Pathway to STEM Education illustrates how the game of chess can help develop skills for solving problems, thinking analytically, and working independently.
- Chess Helps Kids Think reviews a presentation at the London Chess Conference by Amanda Aldercote, a leading British psychological analyst. It highlights the value of playing chess for improving the cognitive development of school children, which may improve their academic success.
- Compilation Of Chess And Education Research Studies discusses two articles that describe how chess can improve test scores of students as well as excite teachers about their work in education.
- Is My Child Too Young for Chess? by Laura Sherman and Bill Kilpatrick, authors of Chess Is Child’s Play — Teaching Techniques That Work, offers advice on when children should learn to play chess.
Because ChessKid has a policy against outside links on the website, this article provides links to only information on this website. Please let us know if you have specific questions or need other information.
Relevant Studies By Other Professionals
In addition, we also want you to know about these relevant studies by scholars, researchers, and other professionals.
Chess And ADHD Students
Procedia, a journal focused on social behavioral sciences, published the article "The Effects of Playing Chess on the Concentration of ADHD Students in the 2nd Cycle." The article reports on a study that examines the effect of playing chess on the concentration of students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Results show improvement in concentration skills and in listening scores.
Benefits Of Chess In Schools
The study "Chess in Education Research Report Confirms Benefits of ACIS" was completed by researchers from Tennessee Tech University and the University of Alabama. Their findings, based on three years of data from the Alabama Chess in Schools (ACIS) program, indicate that chess instruction may improve student performance, especially for young students. The study is believed to be the largest of its kind in the United States to assess the benefits of a teacher-driven chess-in-education program. The study surveyed teachers throughout the state of Alabama and reports the following results:
Perceived Benefits of Chess by Teachers Since They Started Using Chess.
The teacher survey concludes with the following comments: "Not only did chess appear to benefit the students, but it also seemed to help the teachers. They shared that their classes flowed more smoothly and that students were more receptive to their pedagogy.... Overall, these factors indicate chess as an instructional strategy provided a positive and meaningful education experience for students and teachers." Learn more about this study in the ChessKid article "New Research Concludes Chess Beneficial in Younger Grades!"
Not only did chess appear to benefit the students, but it also seemed to help the teachers.
—Findings of the Alabama Chess in Schools Program
Chess And Reading Scores
In “The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores,” Stuart Margulies, Ph.D., describes a two-year study that evaluated improvements in reading scores by schoolchildren in a district in New York City. Chess players outperformed the average student in the United States and the average student in the district. Specifically, chess players showed a gain in percentile score of 5.37; however, students who did not play chess showed no gain. In addition, students who take the test nationally “at yearly intervals do not show a gain in percentile ranking.” The chess-playing students significantly "outperformed” other students in their district. The study also suggests “that chess participation enhances reading performance.”
Chess Expertise in Children
“Chess Expertise in Children,” an article by Dianne Horgan and David Morgan of Memphis State University that was published in Applied Cognitive Psychology, describes how chess skills learned by kids include “opportunities for process feedback as well as outcome feedback; the opportunity to try out discarded alternatives; unusually accurate feedback about performance; structured, systematic presentation of principles; and special drills that force alternative modes of thinking.”
Cognitive Reorganization And Chess Expertise
Published in the International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, “Cognitive Reorganization and the Development of Chess Expertise” was written by Dianne Horgan, Keith Mills, and Robert Neimeyer of Memphis State University. The authors state, “As players gain expertise, they come to represent and organize their knowledge in more efficient ways.”
Chess-playing students learn to organize knowledge efficiently.
Chess As A Way To Teach Thinking
Dianne Horgan is also the author of “Chess As a Way to Teach Thinking,” published in Teaching, Thinking, and Problem Solving. In this article, she examines how chess illustrates that “children can be taught to think clearly and with discipline, to plan ahead, and to make sound decisions.”
Chess and Standard Test Scores
In “Chess and Standard Test Scores,” an article published in Chess Life, James M. Liptrap, describes the effect of participation in a chess club on standardized test scores of elementary students. Students who participated “showed twice the improvement of non-chess players in reading and mathematics between the third and fifth grades” on a state assessment of academic skills.
[Chess players] showed twice the improvement of non-chess players in reading and mathematics.
—James M. Liptrap, a teacher in Spring, Texas
Students in the chess club showed twice the improvement in reading and math.
Critical and Creative Thinking Developed Through Chess
“Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Through Chess” is a report presented by Robert Ferguson, Jr. Ed.D., at a conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education. It describes a federally funded research project that demonstrated that “chess had a definite impact on developing both critical and creative thinking skills.” In addition, he found that “chess had a definite impact on developing both memory and verbal reasoning skills” and that “chess is superior to many currently used [enrichment] programs for developing creative thinking.”
The chess group made superior gains over all other groups in the three areas measured with originality having the most significant gain. Chart: Robert Ferguson, Ed.D.
Analytical Thinking Skills and Chess
Ferguson also prepared the paper “Teaching the Fourth ‘R’ (Reasoning) Through Chess” that described a four-year project in a Pennsylvania school district where gifted students in grades seven through nine were given a variety of special activities, including chess, that would stimulate creative thinking. As part of the project, students completed the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Testing documented that “chess had a definite impact on developing analytical thinking skills."
According to Ferguson, “the project director was also surprised to find significant growth in creative thinking as measured by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. The average increase in fluency for chess participants was 19.86 as compared to 8.4 for all groups and 6.04 for all groups excluding the chess group. The average increase in raw score for flexibility for chess students was 22.76 compared to 11.8 for all groups and 9.49 for all groups without including chess pupils.”
Problem-Solving Skills Transferable From Chess
“Playing Chess: A Study of the Transfer of Problem-Solving Skills in Students with Average and Above Average Intelligence” is a doctoral dissertation (number AAI9314070) by Philip J. Rifer for Purdue University. He conducted a study to determine whether middle-school students who learned general problem-solving skills in one domain (which was chess) could apply them in a different domain (that is, an academic activity) to achieve enhanced performance in that domain.
The training task involved learning to play chess. The results indicate that “transfer can be achieved if teaching for transfer is an instructional goal and that transfer occurs more readily and to a greater extent among students with above average ability.”
Better Planning Performance by Chess Players
“Planning Abilities and Chess: A Comparison of Chess and Non-Chess Players on the Tower of London Task” by J. M. Unterrainer, C. P. Kaller, U. Halsband, and B. Rahm was published in the British Journal of Psychology. (The Tower of London test is used in applied clinical neuropsychology to assess executive functioning specifically to detect deficits in planning.) The article reports that “chess players showed better planning performance than non-chess players, an effect most strongly expressed in difficult problems.”
Chess has a definite impact on developing analytical thinking skills.
Special Note for Teachers and Administrators
Are you needing to make the case for chess funding? Please contact ChessKid and let us help, [email protected].
ChessKid also offers grants annually. Any public school system inside or outside the United States can apply. Although there is no deadline for applications, the annual cycle usually benefits those submitted by June 1.
In addition, ChessKid can help if you are interested in starting a chess club at your school and need resources. We offer free gold accounts for students that give them access to tons of amazing resources to grow their chess knowledge and skills! Classroom teachers can receive 20 free gold student accounts to help set up an online chess club. Additionally, teachers receive virtual training on using the program and teaching chess using the seamless and straightforward Classroom Planner tool. This offer is for new subscribers or first-time users of ChessKid. There is no deadline to apply, so when you are ready to start a chess club, ChessKid is ready to help.
The Classroom Planner is a week-by-week guide for teaching chess.
Finally, if you yourself are interested in teaching chess to kids, ChessKid has prepared an ebook for you if you have been asking, How do I even start a chess program and teach kids how to play chess? This resource is for teachers, coaches, and parents to give them guidance on starting a chess program for kids.
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