Ancient Game/New Teaching Tool

There has been a lot of talk recently in the library professional journals about gaming in the Library. Public libraries, especially, are encouraged to start gaming clubs as a draw to get teens and young adults to come to the library and take advantage of their programming. When these journals refer to gaming they are, of course, referring to something electronic. In this post I am referring to the ancient game of Chess (although I suppose there are electronic versions somewhere). A recent article in USA Today (Tuesday, June 2, 2009, p. 7D) called Chess makes a move in U.S. schools reminded me of this gaming effort. In this case, bribes to take part in the program are unnecessary. There has been a wonderful response to scholastic chess and it is making a great impact on students. A representative for America’s Foundation for Chess says, “... she has seen a “huge increase” in the number of schools and students interested in chess.” Teachers say the biggest impact they see is in student performance in mathematics. The foundation has developed a program that teaches 2nd and 3rd grade teachers how to use chess as “...a learning tool...”. The program is titled First Move. “The aim: to teach critical thinking skills that help students succeed academically and socially...One of the basics of the chessboard is that it uses a coordinate system (which is) the basis of algebra.” Teaching students how to think logically in a fun way has some great benefits. Students don’t need to be super-athletic, really good looking, or even young or old. “Chess is an equalizer...” that will appeal to a broad spectrum of students.
Logical thought is also needed to be an accomplished Rubik’s Cube puzzle solver. Two years ago we had a young teacher start a Rubik’s Cube club at school. This was a great club for students that did not have the above listed qualities. It was “the Nerdy” club and they were proud of it. Every student was given a Rubik’s Cube as part of their membership and they met morning before school. The enthusiasm was high as it takes a lot to get teenagers out of bed early to go to an activity at school. The speed with which these kids could solve the puzzle by mid-year was phenomenal. Teachers even allowed students to work on their cubes during study hall as long as they were not bothering anyone else. Participants didn’t think of this as a “logical thinking” activity. It was pure fun! Unfortunately, the teacher moved after the end of this year and I don’t know if we have anyone on staff to take up the effort. I applaud the schools that are helping students to learn in a disguised way. If you would like to try to solve the Rubik’s Cube there is an official website that will help.