Chess-to-the-Classrooms Program – Free to Schools
Arlington Students Chess (ASChess), with the aid of a generous grant from the Arlington Education Fund at the Arlington Community Foundation, has launched its Chess-to-the Classrooms program.
Chess to the Classrooms will send chess instructors to Arlington County schools to introduce fundamentals of chess to students.
With each free visit ASChess will leave behind five chess sets (boards and pieces) and some chess books, as an aid to the formation of after-school chess clubs.
The program will especially seek out classes and groups in grades K-5, in order to introduce our youngest students to some basics of chess: the nomenclature and historical essentials, the 8x8 board, how the pieces move, and so forth.
The presentations will be precisely designed and carefully paced. By the second half-hour, students, however young, will be shown some simple, but logically powerful, algorithms of chess.
The goal is for students to enjoy early on that “aha” flash, that “I get it” moment, experiencing the beauty and iron-clad logic of the simple checkmate.
At the middle and high school levels, Chess-to-the-Classrooms visits will focus more on modern chess history and chess as cultural metaphor, on the connections between chess and math and logic, and on the fascinating story of how chess programming has become a benchmark and staple of computer science and artificial intelligence.
To arrange a visit to your school, please contact Mark Ryan at Arlington Students Chess: [email protected] or 703 867 1725.
Arlington Students Chess (ASChess), with the aid of a generous grant from the Arlington Education Fund at the Arlington Community Foundation, has launched its Chess-to-the Classrooms program.
Chess to the Classrooms will send chess instructors to Arlington County schools to introduce fundamentals of chess to students.
With each free visit ASChess will leave behind five chess sets (boards and pieces) and some chess books, as an aid to the formation of after-school chess clubs.
The program will especially seek out classes and groups in grades K-5, in order to introduce our youngest students to some basics of chess: the nomenclature and historical essentials, the 8x8 board, how the pieces move, and so forth.
The presentations will be precisely designed and carefully paced. By the second half-hour, students, however young, will be shown some simple, but logically powerful, algorithms of chess.
The goal is for students to enjoy early on that “aha” flash, that “I get it” moment, experiencing the beauty and iron-clad logic of the simple checkmate.
At the middle and high school levels, Chess-to-the-Classrooms visits will focus more on modern chess history and chess as cultural metaphor, on the connections between chess and math and logic, and on the fascinating story of how chess programming has become a benchmark and staple of computer science and artificial intelligence.
To arrange a visit to your school, please contact Mark Ryan at Arlington Students Chess: [email protected] or 703 867 1725.
