Project: The Pawn is a Game-Changer! Part 2
Resources Needed: 10 chess sets
School Poverty Level: Highest
Location: Morningside Excel Academy, N Charleston, SC
Total Cost: $290.58
Still Needed: $175.87 Completed!
Expires: Nov 25, 2015
Teacher's Comments from Ms. Carasik:
My Students: Rambunctious, clever, and need a challenge. Wouldn't you like to be challenged? The Gifted and Talented students play chess to develop critical thinking and problem solving strategies. This challenge helps to develop their 21st century skills.
My Gifted and Talented students are highly quantitative or verbally gifted. We have been working on problem solving even when you are frustrated or are being given a task that you feel you can't complete.
Playing chess allows the students time to develop these skills. We have a problem. All of the students are truly engaged while we play chess; however, we need more boards. Most of my students are challenged economically, so buying their own boards is an unreasonable expectation.
I am pleased to be able to provide a safe school environment where my students are challenged intellectually because there is not an abundance of these kinds of opportunities for my students in the United States.
We need essential equipment to play chess - a board and the chess pieces. We are starting a competitive chess club so that students who are not identified Gifted and Talented academically could also benefit from playing chess.
My Project: With ten sets of chess pieces and chess boards, my students will be able to play chess in and out of the classroom. We will be able to build a competitive chess club and maybe even compete with other schools. Students will learn how to problem solve, think critically, make predictions based on previously seen outcomes, and develop their 21st century skills.
My students are learning to put down the tablet, phone, or iPad, and play a game that has been around for centuries. Students get to engage their minds and challenge peers to develop their problem solving strategies as well.
In my classroom, I have witnessed how the game of chess stimulates the critical thought process and drives academic achievement.
The data bears this out. Researchers found that students involved in formal chess instruction scored dramatically higher in math, spatial analysis, and non-verbal reasoning ability (Smith and Cage, 2000).
COMPLETED
Please consider the long term project.
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