Impact of Playing Chess on the Development of Cognitive Skills in Schools Students Under the Chess Association of Ampara District

Abstract

The primary purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of playing chess on the development of cognitive skills in school students being trained under the chess association of Ampara district. A quantitative research approach was followed to analyze the cognitive skill of the school students under the chess association of Ampara district and to identify the strategies of the chess players and coaches to improvise the impact of playing chess among the selected school students. The sample consists of 30 male students in each, the Control Group (CG) and the Experimental Group (EG), studying in grades 6-8. All of the students were given an IQ test consisting of 25 questions for the pre-test exam. After that, only the students in the EG students participated in the chess practice program and again both groups were given the same IQ test paper with a changed order of questions compared to the pre-test exam paper. Statistical analysis of data revealed that the students in the control group and the experimental group achieved 50.13 and 51.47 as the average marks respectively, in the pre-test exam. In the post-test exam, students in the control group achieved 51.20 as average marks while the students in the experimental group achieved 64.27 as average marks. Based on the results, there is a significant improvement (p=0.000) in the cognitive skills of the experimental group after the chess training and there is no significant improvement (p=0.174) in the cognitive skills in the control group. The results indicate the improvement in the cognitive skills of the students who are playing chess compared to the normal school students. Hence, the impact of playing chess on the development of cognitive skills in schools being trained under the chess association of Ampara district can be identified from the study.