Does Playing Chess Improve Mathematics Scores? An Experimental Study Among Co-Curricular – Chess Students in Politeknik Kuching Sarawak

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the potential benefits of playing chess on mathematics improvement. There were two groups of respondents in this study, the experimental group were the students who taken chess as their co-curricular’s course for a whole semester while the control group were the other regular-lessons students who not involved with any chess activities. A series of chess lessons and practices were planned and implemented to the experimental group during the weekly co-curricular class. The mathematics assessment consisted of items of The Engineering Mathematics 1 and conducted twice to the students for both groups, the pre-test at the beginning of the semester or before treatment process and the post-test at the end of the semester or after treatment process. The analysis used in this study were the descriptive statistics, the one-sample t-test and the independent sample t-test. This study showed the very encouraging result which playing chess mostly could benefit the students in their mathematics learning and improvement. The students in experimental group showed significantly higher mathematics improvement than the students from the control group. This finding may be useful for the institution to encourage students to learn and play chess during their free time or involve with any chess activities organised. The institution also can set up a chess club and open to all students to join. With these efforts in cultivating the chess playing in institution, it is hoped that even a short-time chess practice or chess playing among students can be a very useful tool to boost their mathematical abilities.