Mgr. Viera Haraštová - Elementary school teacher and chess instructor

Mgr. Viera Haraštová - Elementary school teacher and chess instructor

Project Mathematics at the chess board runs on the Private Primary School in Gorkého 4, Skalica (Slovakia) already seven years. Initially only 5 lessons Today the project replace one lesson of math in classes 1. - 4. In fifth grade, the project still continues at the request of students, but the number of lessons is 6 per week

We do not invent new approaches of learning chess, instead use proven programs and manuals We concentrate on mathematical understanding We use didactic constructivism

The aim of the project is To create valid and interesting enviroment (chess game) for kids at the math lessons. To give the kids enough space and time to practice or reveal new facts. Succed in creating joy in their mind, solving problems, enjoy the succes and fame. Awake the interest for speculation and troubleshooting. Given that one hour a week (45 min) does not provide enough time for breeding small chess player and not all children are interested in playing chess (not to compete), the lesson is designed to use chess as a suitable environment for the development of mathematical thinking. Students who are more interested in chess visits chess lessons.

In the curricula of mathematics 1-4 year we focused in the project on: 1. The radius of solving application tasks and tasks improving specific mathematical thinking, integrating mainly the use of didactical games and manipulative activities using chess games and didactical chess sets 2. To develop mental qualities - memory, thinking, learning, attention. Lessons were designed so as to overlap math problems with chess.

Goals of project A child can: Use learned procedures for solving tasks or playing games Solve simple tasks Create its own tasks Put arguments in defense of his own decision Cooperate together Focus his attention on a goal Finish the game Wants to get a new clues how to solve the riddle

Results of the project In spring of 2015 we made a survey in the second and fourth class, focusing on impact of these lessons on pupils. Based on fact that we took 1 lesson of math away per week, we investigated whether their results will be on par with other pupils. As for fourth class, both schools were private. For the second class, there is a sample from the private school and 2 from a state schools. The test consisted of general knowledge, which are substantive and performance standarts of the state education program. By the start of the test, all samples were comparable.

Hypothesis Pupils of elementary school, which had replaced one hour of math with chess, will reach statistically nonsignificant differences in level of required knowledge in math compared to others with full lessons.

Results of tests Table of input data for the fourth year:

Results of test Pupils from the experimental groups reached an average of 1,9 points more then compared groups. Which means, although they had one less lesson compared to control group, they achieved better test results. The difference is not statistically relevant/ significant. The hypothesis is confirmed.

Results of test Table of input data for the second year:

Results of test Test results based on average mark of the second group shows statistically significant difference (p = 0,04003) in favor of experimental group. Compared to control group 1, the difference is insignificant. The largest deviation arose to solve verbal tasks.

Activities, tasks, games

Chessboard determined the orientation by touch Materials: paper board and velcro (easy and cheap) Possibilities of use for the first year: Find the field by touch Find out where the stone stands Solve single move mates by touch

Usage of teaching chess programs for frontal work Clicking the bone pulls ghost and disappears. Usage has several levels DVD Fritz & Chesster vol. 3 (Lengwenus, 2007) Children know how to pull the stones, and give checkmate. They observe ghost on the interactive board. If the ghost moves and vanish, they make a move on their chessboards. In the end, they find a mate. They may move after the black ghosts turn.

Usage of teaching chess programs for frontal work Moves are written in form of notation. At the end they play it according to their notation, move figures and eventually give mate. They only write moves and based on that solve a singlemove checkmate. Highest level solving a mate without annotation (entry in program).

The game utilizing the value of the figures Task: Children get into pairs chess sets. They will draw a card with number from 20 to 70. This number is the sum value of the figures, which they must reach on the board. Alternately, they put figures on the board and may use only those that are in the kit. The winner is the child who manage to get, after laying his figure on a board, value he/she drew.

The tasks focused on reading comprehension Tasks based on difficulty are focused only on reading with comprehension using chess terms or solving a chess task. Level 1 1. All stones are placed at c-row and c1-square is empty, 2. there were seven in total - queen, king, rook, knight, gunner and two pawns. 3. just next to her was the white king and she stood on the square c4, 4. tower stood between the bishop and pawn, while the bishop was furthest from the queen 5. knight stood on the square with a highernumber than king. Place figures according to assignment. Figures can be identified by a letter or a picture of figures that we put on paper or use a chessboard chess sets.

The tasks focused on reading comprehension Level 2 1. There is 11 pieces on board 2. kings stands on a column h, hiding behind their pawns and the pawns have 4 free squares between. 3. white bishop is on the longest black diagonal and stands on a first row 4. Black has two pawns in the basic position, one guards king and second opposite side of the board. 5. White has only one bishop. The value of his figures is 7 and his other figures stands on a2, b3, c2. 6. Black has two bishops. One prevents the king to go to the adjacent light square. 7. second bishop, protects the king from Chess, If you calculate 19-13 =?, You will get value where he stands. If you manage to correctly construct figures on the board, you can solve a single move mate. White's turn.

The tasks focused on reading comprehension Level 3 a) Try to build a proper position according to the assignment and solve the task. 1. Black king hid in a corner of their own color, white stands on f2. 2. Blacks whitefield bishop moved from the basic position one square towards the center of the board 3. White pawns stands on c2, e4, e5 and black on a6, c5, d6, f7, h7. 4. Black Tower stands as they would stand after small castling. 5. If the black knight was white, he would check the black king. 6. Whites blackfield bishop moved to fourth line in one move from the basic position.

The tasks focused on reading comprehension 7. White queen is separated from the black king only by one pawn. 8. The black queen is on b5. 9. The white tower stands on the second line, on the kings left and does not stand on a white field. Tower is not threatened by black queen. 10. White knight stands in the small center on white square. b) White's turn, threatens with 2 moves mate. Find the mate. Can black defend against this somehow?

Comparison and equality Which piece would you take from black and give to white, so their figures would have the same value?

Which piece would you take from black and give it to white, so their figures would have the same value? Put the piece in a correct place to give a mate in single move.

Small exercises The task is selected from the book of R. Smullyan Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes. (Smullyan, 2005, p. 28) Where was the queen taken (needs to ask the right questions)

Chess panoptikum (František Brandeis) there are stories about Karl May, Napoleon, Karl XII, Columbus,... Find a positional fault, correct it and give mate

Chess panoptikum (František Brandeis) How was the America found It takes place at the Spanish court, where Christopher Columbus comes to apply for a ship to travel to India. King Ferdinand V was playing chess and was white. He could not find a way and Isabella of Castile advised him to sacrifice his towers. Thanks to this he won. According to the story for this game, he gave Colombo the ship for the trip.

Sources used: LENGWENUS, B. - HILBERT, J. 2005. Fritz & Chesster vol 3 Chess for winners. [CD/ROM]. ISBN 978-3-89835-390-8. BRANDEJS, F. 1975. Chess panopticum. Prague : Práce, 1975. 252 p. 24-128-75. SMULLYAN, R. 2011. Chess misteries of Sherlock Holmes. New York : Dover Publications, 2011. 192 p. ISBN: 978-0-48648201-9. HARAŠTOVÁ, V. 2015. Didactic games on Chessboard : Master's thesis. Trnava : TU, 2015. 90 p.