THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING CHESS AND ATTITUDES TOWARD THE SUBJECT IN EDUCATIONAL GROUPS USING A GAME-BASED APPROACH TO LEARNING

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify the impact of the use of educational games in chess lessons as a general education subject on the solution of chess problems and students’ attitudes towards the subject. We hypothesized, drawing from the classic works of L.S. Vygostky, D.B. Elkonin, R.M. Ryan, E. Deci, and others, that educational games successfully shape educational motivation in chess lessons among younger schoolchildren. By conducting a comparative analysis of gaming and traditional approaches, considering their impact on the teaching of chess and students’ attitudes towards the subject, we can significantly enhance student motivation and educational initiative, thereby improving the quality of chess teaching. This can be achieved by incorporating scientifically based teaching technologies into the educational process. Methods. One of the schools in the Republic of Armenia tested the chess game method of teaching. Four second graders participated in the experiment. The same teacher taught the subject of chess in all classes. We define two classes as control classes, where we taught chess using the usual or traditional method, and the other two classes as experimental classes, where we taught chess using a new game method. Eight students were members of a chess school or club. We did not consider their results when processing the experimental data. We conducted the experiment for nine months, from September 2021 to May 2022. Results and conclusions. Analysis of the characteristics demonstrated a fundamental difference between learning with game elements and the traditional approach, particularly in terms of the parameters of social interaction in learning, where the game approach offers significant advantages. Given the impact of the game approach on chess teaching attitudes, we found that the experimental group had a higher percentage of students (96.0%) wishing for “more chess lessons” compared to the control group (69.4%), and a lower percentage (4.0%) wishing for “as many chess lessons as there are now” compared to the control group (27.4%). The z-test comparing proportions in Table 5 showed that the identified differences in attitudes were statistically significant at the 95% level. The data we obtained allows us to confirm the hypothesis that the gaming method of teaching creates more positive attitudes towards chess lessons.