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Chess and Education London Conference Successes and Challenges Improving School Chess Practice, Research and Strategy Olympia Kensington Saturday, 7 December 10.00-11.00 Registration and Get Together (Foyer) 11.00-12.30 The Opening Session (chaired by Stefan Loeffler, Chess in the Public Interest) Welcome Malcolm Pein, Chess in Schools and Communities Keynote Prof. Aram Hajian, American University of Armenia Educating a Nation with Chess Aram Hajian is the Dean of the College of Science and Engineering of the American University of Armenia in Yerewan. The Stanford and Havard graduate is a board member of the Armenian Chess Academy. Prof. Fernand Gobet, University of Liverpool A Research Agenda for Scholastic Chess Whether chess instruction transfers to other fields is still an open question. This talk will address two issues. First, what kind of research should be pursued to establish beyond doubt whether chess instruction is beneficial outside the chess board? Second, what should be the content of chess instruction? More specifically, I propose that the school curriculum (e.g. in mathematics and language) should strongly inform the way chess is taught. Fernand Gobet is a cognitive scientist at Liverpool University interested in learning, language aquisition and expertise. An International Master and former national team player for Switzerland, he has conducted many studies on chess. 12.30-13.45 Lunch Break 12.45-13.45 Video Lunch Corsica, Land of Chess (France, 4 min) presented by Léo Battesti / Corsican Chess League Psychomotricity (Italy, 6 min) presented by Alessandro Dominici / Scacchi a Scuola Piemonte Kindergarten Chess (Israel, 6 min) presented by Boris Alterman, Chess in a New Way The Chess Palace Programme (Hungary, 15 min, dir. Csaba Sass, ed. Tamas Breitner) presented by Ferenc von Maurer / Judit Pólgar Chess Foundation 13.45-15.30 The Research Session (chaired by Jonathan Rowson, CSC) Keynote Dr. Michelle Ellefson, University of Cambridge Does Chess Make Children Smart? Insights from Cognitive Science A number of cognitive benefits have been attributed to playing chess. However, there are a number of methodological and design limitations in current findings that prevent strong conclusions about which type of thinking skills might be influenced by learning to play chess and whether it is those thinking skills that might lead to the academic gains related to chess playing. During this talk, I present the case for why chess might improve one area of thinking skills called executive functions. I explore how these skills are beneficial for academic achievement and why they are the focus of a chess intervention programme that I am running with an international team of collaborators. Further, I include a discussion on how certain aspects of cognitive science might be useful for exploring the impact of playing chess for education. Dr. Ellefson is a lecturer in Psychology & Neuroscience in Education with the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge. Her work integrates cognition, neuroscience, child development, and education into a multi-disciplinary research programme aimed at improving maths and science education. She is principal investigator of the Mind Match Chess project (2011-2014). Roberto Trinchero, University Torino + Giuliano d´Ereditá, University Palermo Can Chess Improve Math Scores? An Italian Experiment Goes International Roberto Trinchero is Professor of Education Research at the Deparment of Philosophy and Science of Education at the University of Torino. The trained sociologist has lead numerous studies on the effects of chess teaching. Giuliano d´Ereditá is Lecturer in Didactics of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Palermo and the school chess coordinator of the Italian Chess Federation. Johanna Valentin, Utsiktstornet.se Chess as an Educational Tool for Children with Learning Disabilities There are plenty of non-conventional possibilities within the chess game for social and intellectual development. My talk will include research on the subject and experiences from working with chess in schools and with children with special needs. Johanna Valentin is the founder and director of Utsiktstornet (The Vantage Tower), for which she won a three year Reach for Change grant. A tournament player in childhood she has studied social psychology and is trained "Kaospilot" (social entrepreneurship and leadership). While living in Kopenhagen her project partners are in Sweden. Prof. Christopher Chabris, Union College / Albany Medical College Finding the Active Ingredients in a Chess Intervention Christopher Chabris is Co-Director of the Neuroscience Program at Union College and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neurology at Albany Medical College. He has many scholarly and popular publications on cognitive psychology including a number of chess related studies. For many years he organized chess at Harvard. 15.30-15.45 Coffee Break 15.45-17.00 The Best Practice Session (chaired by John Foley, CSC) Carl-Fridrik Johansson, Swedish Chess Federation Who are the Chess Teachers of the Future? Ferenc von Maurer, Judit Pólgar Chess Foundation Chess in All Subjects - The Chess Palace Programme Judit Pólgar’s Chess Palace Programme goes beyond the normal boarders of chess teaching, and focuses on improving academic skills, logical, creative thinking and problem solving, preparing children to be able to accept the challenges of the digital society they live in. The teaching material has exceptionally strong skills training through cross-curricular links with is completely integrated into the regular elementary school curriculum. Ferenc von Maurer is the Educational and PR Manager of the Judit Pólgar Chess Foundation. He combines a broad academic and professional background as a teacher of English, physical education and drama, as a TV sports presenter and as PR strategist for different sport organizations. Jérome Maufras, Académie de Créteil Mini Games - Improving Academic Skills with Chess Those in favour of the development of chess in schools are enthusiast as long as you are talking about convincing people to embrace their cause. They are more silent, however, when it comes to the pedagogic methods that should be used to make it work. One thing is for sure: the debate cannot only be reduced to teaching how to checkmate, deliver a fork or sacrifice on h7, or else chess will remain a competitive and fun game confined to after school time but it will not be considered by educators and parents as a tool to develop or improve academic skills. I think the educational potential of chess has not been fully exploited yet. The development of chess in schools is still too competition-oriented, not only in its goals (training new players) but in its methods (developing chess skills) as well. I will show how mini-games or chess-like situations improve not just chess skills but also academic skills, how this conception of chess in schools development can help chess to fit in with teachers, parents and pupils expectations, and how this will help chess to develop and become a popular activity at a wider scale. Jerome Maufras is Director of chess in schools development for the Créteil Academy, the Regional Education Authority of Eastern Paris. Also a teacher, author and translator, he was the school chess coordinator of the French Chess Federation from 2008 until 2013. Marisa van der Merwe, Mini Chess South Africa Game Changer - A Primary Chess Curriculum I will focus on the development of age specific curriculum content, implementation and materials (Learner Workbooks, Teacher Manuals & lesson plans as well as teaching aids) over the course of more than twenty years in South African classrooms, using chess-related activities for critical capacity building in 5 to 9 year-olds. Mini Chess has been the subject of several studies, of which the roll-out and results will be shared. It targets teacher empowerment, job creation and bridging cultural and language barriers. Marisa van der Merwe is the founder and director of Mini Chess, a curriculum she has recently roled out in several African countries in cooperation with Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa. She is co-founder of the charity Moves for Life and was manager of the Waterkloof Chess Center for eight years. 17.00-18.30 The Worldcafé Session (three sessions of thirty minutes of debating, after thirty minutes everyone changes table) How We Deceive Ourselves about the Benefits of Chess (room 2) hosted by Prof. Christopher Chabris, Union College / Albany Medical College How to Make Chess Less Scary for Girls and Female Teachers? hosted by Sarah Kett, TSK Chess Wales How to Make Chess More Inclusive and Socially Integrative? hosted by Johanna Valentin, Utsiktstornet.se Should Chess be a Subject or an Educational Toolkit? hosted by John Foley, CSC What Do We Need Research to Tell us? (room 2) hosted by Leontxo García, Chess in the Public Interest Sunday 8 December 10.00-12.30 The Workshop Session (chaired by Stefan Loeffler, Chess in the Public Interest) Keynote Mads Jacobsen, Skoleskak Denmark How to Build a Business Model for Scholastic Chess in Your Country I will talk about Scholastic Chess versus Chess in Schools and about how to develop a sustainable finance model for Scholastic Chess. Mads Jacobsen is the director of Skoleskak. He started a school chess club at 14 and became a regional coordinator at Skoleskak at 17. In 2006 he lead relaunched the formerly volunteer organization as a professional organization that successfully runs many projects for Danish ministries

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