Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore how undergraduate university students react to chess instruction. Certain patterns emerged from 10 offerings of a Freshman Seminar entitled “Beginners’ Chess and 21st Century Thinking Skills”. The course enrolled only first-year and second-year undergraduate students at a large public state university in the USA. The students tended to have little or no knowledge of chess prior to the course. The course made extensive use of chess-related websites available on the Internet such as chess.com, lichess.org, and chessgames.com. The instruction involved the projection of a chess-related website projected onto a large classroom screen with the use of an instructor’s computer connected to a projector that projected the computer-based image onto the screen. The course had 10-20 students in each annual offering of the course that lasted 15 weeks. The student evaluations of the course were very positive, indicating that the students enjoyed the course very much. The course involved instruction in chess on topics such as tactics and basic checkmates along with instruction on the cognitive psychological foundations of chess on topics such as problem solving and critical thinking. The primary task in the course was that each student had to prepare a critical evaluation of two of their own chess games that included correct usage of proper algebraic notation for the chess moves. The chess activity that the students enjoyed the most was group competition.
Highlights
The purpose of this study was to explore how undergraduate university students respond to chess instruction
The motivation for this study is the belief that chess training can facilitate the development of 21st Century thinking skills among undergraduate students
To explore how undergraduate university students respond to chess instruction, 10 offerings of a Freshman Seminar entitled “Beginners’ Chess and 21st Century Thinking Skills” were implemented and examined to determine whether certain patterns of undergraduate behavior emerged
Summary
The purpose of this study was to explore how undergraduate university students respond to chess instruction. Chess instruction is usually oriented toward school-aged children No books could be located that are for teaching chess to undergraduate university students. No books could be identified for undergraduate university students to learn chess. The motivation for this study is the belief that chess training can facilitate the development of 21st Century thinking skills among undergraduate students. Many undergraduate students lack 21st Century thinking skills. To explore how undergraduate university students respond to chess instruction, 10 offerings of a Freshman Seminar entitled “Beginners’ Chess and 21st Century Thinking Skills” were implemented and examined to determine whether certain patterns of undergraduate behavior emerged
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