Chess Improves Academic Performance

Originally posted by RahimK
I guess there is no other game to rival chess in thinking, manners, patience, planning etc...

Go might. It was not listed as one of the other activities tested, but it is not widely played in the US. Go has far more possible positions than chess does.

Originally posted by RahimK
I guess there is no other game to rival chess in thinking, manners, patience, planning etc...

That's an unwarranted conclusion. I don't see any comparisons of chess to other strategy games. To quote from the link:

"Similarly, a 5-year study of 7th and 8th graders, by Robert Ferguson of the Bradford, PA School District showed that test scores improved 17.3% for students regularly engaged in chess classes, compared with only 4.56% for children participating in other forms of "enrichment activities" including Future Problem Solving, Dungeons and Dragons, Problem Solving with Computers, independent study, and creative writing."

Of those other "enrichment activities," the only other game is D&D. There's nothing here suggesting that playing chess improves academic performance more than playing go (or poker).

Originally posted by jgvaccaro
That's an unwarranted conclusion. I don't see any comparisons of chess to other strategy games. To quote from the link:

"Similarly, a 5-year study of 7th and 8th graders, by Robert Ferguson of the Bradford, PA School District showed that test scores improved 17.3% for students regularly engaged in chess classes, compared with only 4.56% for children p ...[text shortened]... ing that playing chess improves academic performance more than playing go (or poker ).

There's nothing here suggesting that playing chess improves academic performance more than playing go (or poker)

What?

It just said chess classes 17% others stuff 5%.

Doesn't that suggest chess improve performance?

I think it does promote mental development... it kind of forces you to think in different ways about certain situations... In chess, the loss of a piece can turn into a huge advantage and it is the ability to recognize these advantages that becomes an ability learned through chess.

Obviously there are other things people learn from chess, but the most important thing that chess does is that it forces you into a different pattern of thinking, different from what you would normally be thinking, and this development of thought processes is what i think could allow for a greater academic success.

I don't think there are any studies that focus on the effects that learning chess has on the neural nets of the brain.

Here's something on mathematics and chess
http://web.usna.navy.mil/~wdj/math_chess.htm

Originally posted by RahimK
There's nothing here suggesting that playing chess improves academic performance more than playing go (or poker)

What?

It just said chess classes 17% others stuff 5%.

Doesn't that suggest chess improve performance?

there's nothing there that rules out the possibility that only the "good students" stay with the chess program for instance. I would like to see an actual study, where you could check how they got their results.

Originally posted by wormwood
there's nothing there that rules out the possibility that only the "good students" stay with the chess program for instance. I would like to see an actual study, where you could check how they got their results.

How true.

Just out of the blue but perhaps the people who do drop chess, drop out of school later on?

Just a thought 🙂

Originally posted by RahimK
Just out of the blue but perhaps the people who do drop chess, drop out of school later on?

wasn't bobby fischer a dropout?

oh right, the black rider already posted that...

Originally posted by wormwood
wasn't bobby fischer a dropout?

oh right, the black rider already posted that...

I believe he was, and look how he ended up.