CHESS IN SCHOOL – A BLENDED LEARNING PILOT PROJECT

For many people, chess is a sport, science or art. For most people, chess could be an educational opportunity. The issue is that this opportunity is usually not taken. We present here an educational project in which a blended learning approach was used to initiate primary school pupils in chess. The study of chess in school as a compulsory subject has become a more and more popular demand in countries all over the world. The main reason for that is the general acknowledged fact that learning chess develops in children a set of cognitive and social abilities that will serve them on the long term. This paper has two parts: the first one the first one analyses the main cognitive abilities positively influenced by playing chess. A literature review on the topic reveals contradictory and even surprising results. While some studies show a positive influence of learning chess on abilities such as reading and math abilities, critical and creative thinking, memory or IQ, some others find inconclusive results. In our opinion, the difference can be explained, at least partially, by the method of teaching chess. The second part of the paper presents the solution proposed by INSOFT Development Consulting, which is a computer supported course of chess that can be taught individually or to groups, in formal on nonformal contexts and that encourage not just the development of cognitive and social abilities, but also their transfer to other contexts. The process of development, implementation and evaluation is described and discussed.