I got into math and chess integrated teaching and research because of my son Andrew was interested in chess when he was about 6 years of old,
My interest in creating math and chess integrated workbooks was sparked because there were no math and chess integrated worksheets for children to work on.
My over 10 years of devotion in math and chess integrated teachinghas led me invented Symbol Chess Language (patents applied), Ho Math and Chess Teaching set, and Frankho Chess Maze.The first workbook created was Magic Chess and Math Puzzles which is a new idea of learning chess and also enriching math problem-solving ability using creative minds of hands-on, multi-concept, multi-direction, multi-operation, multi-sensory and visual learning.
Hands-on
Chess provides ample hands-on opportunities. One has to physically move chess pieces to get game going.
Multi-concept
Math puzzles worksheets are designed to learn division while doing multiplication and learning subtraction while doing addition.
Multi-direction
Chess is a multi-direction game. Some worksheets are deigned in a way that the operation is no loner just a linear fashion from left to the right. The direction could be from bottom to top, from left to right, and also diagonally or even crossed.
Multi-sensory
The learning of chess involves eye, hands, and brain coordination. The math pattern puzzle trains visualization.
Background
I started to teach my son Andrew chess when he was five years old. A lot of information I have read indicates that there is a strong relationship between mathematics and chess. My son was interested in chess so what would happen if he carried the same interest in chess on to a subject which would require him to use his chess knowledge? What could chess offer in mathematics education? These kinds of questions sparked my interest in study the relationship between chess and math. What I had found was there have been many chess or math puzzles published but I was not able to find a collection of mathematical chess problems that was specifically created for youngsters.
In 1995, I was involved in teaching math and chess at the same time and I started to seriously look into the possibility of creating some math and chess hybrid problems. This is how Andrew and I started to create the first generation of Math and Chess integrated workbook entitled Mathematical Chess Puzzles for Juniors (ISBN 0-9683967-0-4 and is archived at National Library of Canada). It is designed and written for the purpose of learning all kinds of problem-solving skills through over 100 mind provoking and sometimes mind boggling mathematical chess puzzles. The uniqueness of this book is that only the basic chess knowledge and the elementary math ability are needed to solve most of these puzzles.
I have been working on refining the contents ever since and after 10 years of working on the workbook, it has incorporated many math concepts and today's version is the third generation. The workbook could be used as a supplemental or enriched material to supplement math curriculum.
World's first claim and copyright
I made the claim that the first edition of workbook Mathematical Chess Puzzles for Juniors created in 1995 was a world's first. I did a through literature and library catalogues searches and publicized my workbook on the internet (including rec.games.chess.misc) resulted in nothing. There was no integrated chess and math workbook ever published commercially for the elementary students at the time when I published my workbook in 1995. In addition, I have updated the workbook since I published the first one 10 years ago with many new and innovative ideas, no one has ever done or created such a workbook. It would be devastating for me if some copycats just copied my ideas and formats of worksheets and started to commercialize it. To protect my intellectual property, I lay claims as being the world's first on the following ideas and concepts and the original creator of unique formats of worksheets:
1995, I incorporated the values of chess pieces into math (The value system is the one used by Chess Federation of Canada.).
July, 2004, I created two-column format, one column is chess question and the other side is math puzzles, which show the logic relationship between chess and math. This is the second-generation version.
February, 2005, I used chess figures in the math puzzles to instill the concept of variables. This is the third generation of workbook.
I found that in real life, students do not just learn four operations ( ) in a sequential manner, for example, when a child taking one apple out of four apples, it is an operation of addition (getting one apple) but also a subtraction (3 apples left). I thought it would be a good idea that students could learn multi-operation and multi-concept at the same time to reflect the real life experience. Many math puzzles worksheets were converted from my math worksheets originated by me.
All problems and worksheet formats presented in this article are originally created by Frank Ho, so no part of these worksheets formats or problems may be reproduced without the written permission of Frank Ho.
How math and chess were integrated
The updated workbook today is called Magic Chess and Math Puzzles to reflect the magic relationship of mathematics and chess and how chess could be used in improving mathematics ability.
I did not want to create a workbook, which is just a collection of chess puzzles, nor I wanted to create a workbook, which was a collection of brain teasing math puzzles. The problems in my workbook I envisioned to create must have the following characteristics:
1. Must have some logic connection between chess and math problems.
2. Students could learn chess and improve math ability at the same time.
3. Problems created must be innovative and interesting.
4. Only basic chess is required to solve the math problems.
5. Elementary students from grade 1 and above could solve these problems.
With the above requirements in mind I was searching the logic and mathematical connection between math and chess and the result is many of these problems were created using chess positions and are not suitable for elementary students.
In 1995, the breakthrough came to me when I realized that I could use the relative value of chess pieces to create mathematical chess puzzles. I have since created many of these types of problems and I believe this idea of using relative chess piece values to create mathematical chess puzzles is world's first.
In July, 2004, I started to use two-column system to place chess questions on one-side and math problems on the other side to show the possible logic relationship between chess and math. At the same time I was creating math worksheets for elementary students. Some of these math worksheets formats were created by me and they are very unique, I incorporated some of these unique math worksheets into my chess workbook.
In February, 2005, the third generation of Magic Chess and Math Puzzles was born. I incorporated chess figures into mathematical equation and the result was a big surprise to me since to some children the learning of using these chess variables in the equations seems to be so natural to them, they are not realizing that they are actually learning algebra at grade 3. At this point I decided to change my workbook name Chess and Mathematical Chess Puzzles to Magic Chess and Math Puzzles to better reflect the intriguing and magic relationship between chess and math.
Learning expectations
People always wonder what exactly is the relationship between chess and math and how much math concepts in my workbook are children learning? What are the expected learning outcomes? My workbook is not designed to prepare children for the chess tournament, not is it written to prepare for math contest. It is designed to lead children into the wonder world of learning chess and at the same time to introduce some math concepts using chess as a learning tool. It is written with the idea to show children that math is not just doing drill and boring math computations day in and day out. It is offered as an alternative and supplemental learning resources for math education but not to replace school math curriculum. The expected chess-learning outcome stops at the tactics level and could be easily seen from the table of contents of the workbook.
Chess knowledge required
The chess knowledge required to do the mathematical puzzles is listed as follows:
How to move the chess pieces and how to write moves in algebraic notation.
Frank Ho is the founder of the only international child education franchise dedicated to teaching children math through integrated math and chess. He invented the world's first math and chess integrated workbooks using Geometric Chess Language (Patents applied), Frankho Chess Mazes, and Ho Math and Chess Teaching Set. Math and chess worksheets make the math learning more fun and engaged, as a result, children become more observant in processing iniformation and become more alert when playing chess. In additional improving children's math marks, Ho Math and Chess workbooks are an excellent training tool for for improving problem solving skills and improving memory and brainpower.
More information on testimonials (over 100), sample worksheets, and franchise, please visit www.mathandchess.com.
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