Chess and education

Club gives Dennis students all the right (chess) moves
By DIANE D’AMICO Education Writer, 609-272-7241
Published: Monday, May 19, 2008

DENNIS TOWNSHIP – Josh Tozer had a baseball game and still had to get home to change, his father reminded him.

But Josh was more concerned with the positions of his chess pieces than his position on the field.

“I was in check, but then I got out of it,” he proudly told his dad, who had played some chess himself and thought he might still have a chess set made of volcanic rock stored up in the attic.

Tozer and classmate Kyle Almand, both second graders at the Dennis Township Primary School, made several more moves, interspersed with some discussion about whether some pieces were allowed to move the way they wanted them to. Josh (with a little encouragement from dad, who really had to get him home), was declared the winner.

“Did you shake hands?” teacher Jeff Bingaman asked as they rushed to pack their chess set away.

Bingaman, a kindergarten teacher at the school, began the Science and Chess Club for students in grades K-2 this year as a way to help students develop their problem-solving skills in a fun environment.

“I had a couple of students last year who were learning chess, and this year I just decided to keep going with it,” Bingaman said. “I thought we’d get maybe five or six students, but during the winter we had as many as 40.”

The club meets once a week after school. The first half-hour or so is spent on some type of science activity the kind of fun experiments Bingaman said he’d like to do more of in class, but doesn’t always have time.

Here is the full article.