Chess in the school curriculum? Good idea or bad idea?

Has anyone got any experience to share on this topic?

Thanks, Daveyjay 

Studies show that students who get taught chess at school get higher grades across the board (and not because chess is taught at schools with better students). I'll try to find a referrence.

"Studies".

Wow! Good thing you have such a reliable and verifiable source!

May I direct you to the part of my post that says "I'll try to find a referrence", indicating that I have forgotten the original source of the experiment and will attempt to locate it?

Cheers Nytik.  I appreciate your interest and look forward to your update. 

I sort of doubt that those studies have been done on a scale that could be considered accurate.

School-sponsored chess clubs would not be a good idea (at least for high school)

Young students interested in chess should just go down to the local recreational center, and usually they have chess programs.

UTD (the college I attend) has a nationally-ranked chess club which I am afraid to try and enter, for fear of becoming psychologically destroyed and put off of chess forever.

chess as proven to do great for kids in school expecially at yong ages such as 8-12 in Portugal (and all over europe)there are some schools starting to teach chess, expecially private ones. The general feeling by the teachers and parents is that the kids tend to be more focused in school and grow interest for boring stuff as math

Even so, wouldn't you be surprised if playing chess had no impact on exam results? Considering the problem solving skills etc.

http://www.quadcitychess.com/benefits_of_chess.html

But on the other hand, time spent on chess is not spent on other things. And I doubt chess is a particularly good way to teach problem solving, and whether it adds much to the problem solving skills kids already acquire from doing problems in other classes.

i believe people who learn chess are smarter just like people who read regularly or people who play instruments are smarter

Thanks very much TheGrobe, that's just the sort of thing I was looking for!

Grandmaster Maurice Ashley's book "Chess For Success" lists various studies and statistics supporting the educational benefits of chess.

this is my first time posting, but I agree with AnthonyCG

unless they're going to teach the history of scrabble, connect 4, shoots and ladders, and other board games, i suggest just leaving it out.

really poor post for a first time! :) Chess as to be the best simply because I like it!

not kiding chess really improves on yout concentration skills

Gives you the need to have a strategical view of the board to be able to play

An huge ammount of real life strategy such as the ones pointed out by Kasparov in "How chess imitates life" or even in that much less know book by that very badly know author Sun Tzu "The Art of War"

So we can say it prepares kids for the competitive world?

They are envolved in sport, so less time for drugs and other risk behavior by the pupils

If they are learning it as a group it helps them development relationships.

Its good for your memory altough not proved that chess players have a better memory then regular persons, its proven that the fact they are using the brain to remember moves keeps brain cells active and that prevents them from dying.

People who play chess are seen as "smarter" then the average by non playing people that as to be an advantage, it even help to insert chess in your resume!

Piece counting is an essential part of chess playing so you are always facing the need to do simple math, and it is well know that people don't improve on math by doing the hard exercices, but on repeating for an endless number of times simple math such as 2+3 or 8+7 etc, youl develop your brain in a way this tipe of thing is just automatic. So yes chess does improve your math skills.

Chess is fun and "pratical" in the sense kids do move the pieces and touch the board so they feel more connected to the game and the activity leaving them more interested.

There are more points about why chess is great to teach, ill let others say something about it now!

I bet its better then your portuguese lol

I never said we shouldn't keep out chess, just we should also think about scrabble and other strategic games; (although chess is the best)

I teach grade three (I'm nervous now after the grammar comment :) ) and I run my small chess club at my small rural public school.  I like the idea of having it as part of the curriculum , but that brins up a couple questions:

1.  Who is going to teach it?  I have met few teachers that have the knowledge base to teach beginner chess and it would take a lot of cash to inservice at least one teacher per school to be the specialist.  We rarely have phys. ed, art or music specialists - where can room be found for chess.  And, more logially, if it is added to the math curric. there is still the problem with inservicing / professional development and...

2.  What are you going to drop to make room for chess?  It is my understanding that the research has been done on how chess inproves math ability, but what do we drop to make room?  Teachers are already asked to teach more than previous generations.  And, no, I am not whining about teacher workload - not at all.  I am not a stressed out teacher.  I am talking about how this month (mid May to mid June) I need to cover bike safety, personal safety ("stranger danger" sort of thing), teach word processing skills to grade 3 kids, and get them ready for a spring concert - all on top of provincial testing an the regular curric.  Where would I fit in chess?

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