Aram Hajian, Ph.D. Member, Board of Directors Chess Academy of Armenia Dean, College of Science and Engineering American University of Armenia Educating a Nation through Chess: Armenia December 7-8, 2013 Chess in Schools Conference London, UK
Jan 05, 2016
Aram Hajian, Ph.D.
Member, Board of DirectorsChess Academy of Armenia
Dean, College of Science and EngineeringAmerican University of Armenia
Educating a Nation through Chess: Armenia
December 7-8, 2013Chess in Schools Conference
London, UK
Outline
• Chess and Values
• Vision – This can be done
• Implementation
• Insights
• Context
Chess and Values
• Creativity/innovation– how to teach it?
• Logic, Memory, et al.
• Fair play
• Counterbalance to culture of instant-gratification (video games, twitter, etc.)
• Lose with dignity, win with grace
• Taking responsibility for one’s actions
• Analysis of dynamic situation
Vision – Chess in all schools is doable
• Armenia is small (~3M population)
• Chess is popular/widespread
• President is Chess Fed President and an avid chess fan and supporter
• Names/authorities in chess community with conviction in Chess in Schools vision: champions who champion the cause
• Chess passion and success
Vision – This can be done
• 48 affiliates spread throughout the country
• Network formed over the last decade
• Coordination points for Chess in Schools proliferation
Implementation – How it was done
• Strategy team coalescence
• Needs assessment
• Pilot – proof of concept
• Decision: Chess for all 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade students
• Screening, selection of instructors
• Training of instructors, filtering
Implementation – How it was done (2)
• Content creation• Textbook, workbook, teacher’s guide,
psychologist’s guide
• Inclusion of puzzles, games, pedagogical variety
• Regular trainings: team comprised of• Psychologists
• Chess professionals
• Schoolteachers
Implementation Timeline
• 2008: Prep work, needs assessment, resource inventory re: chess teachers, chess players, printed material, chess sets, et al.
• 2009: Material preparation
• 2010: Pilot with trainers/psychologists; further development of materials, localization
Implementation Timeline (2)
• 2011: Coordination with Education Ministry, with Chess Academy at nerve center
• 2011: Teacher selection and training - preparation of teachers drawing greatly upon pilot work from previous year– Most difficult task
– Hundreds of simuls to determine candidates
– ID teachers across country
– Keys: strong federation, Academy network, leadership
• Teacher certification follow-up
Current state of affairs
• Ongoing process
• Continual state of improvement– Pedagogical
– Psychological
– ID of metrics to best quantify benefit
• Positive publicity, both in country and internationally
• Popularization, e.g. pan-national school olympiads
• Expansion, e.g. virtual classroom
Research activity
• Preliminary findings are very encouraging
• Control group has been children one-year-older, ie those who did not get exposure to chess in school
• Rich data set
• Findings shared primarily in Russian-speaking sphere, to date
• Welcome to Armenia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004j7zg
“Armenia: the cleverest nation on earth”
Challenges
• Sedentary activity in the age of greater desired physical education activity
• Always will be backlash• Competitiveness vs
collaboration?
Additional thoughts
• We can create, or least promote, our role models
• Part of a general educational system challenge in the 21st century
Thank you! www.chessacademy.am