Children love to play games. "8 by 8 - Strategy Games for Primary Education" introduces strategy board games to the primary school mathematics classroom. The project is based upon children's enhanced learning receptivity when playing games - children become more focused and increase their concentration. Games enrich the classroom, enhance motivation and improve academic performance according to empirical research into the effects of chess instruction. Educationists recognise that games are a relatively unexplored, yet effective vehicle to convey mathematical ideas. In a previous Erasmus + project, team members have shown how the mathematics of the chess board and pieces can be applied to enrich primary school mathematics. Our project title refers to the geometry of a chess board. Numerous mathematical ideas are contained within an 8 by 8 board and can be introduced to the classroom, ranging from symmetry and parity through to enumeration and shape concepts. This insight has been developed as a by-product of two decades of developing chess as an educational tool. Our project will go beyond this classical board game. There is a wealth of other strategy games that can be played on an 8 by 8 grid or on other board spaces. Most of these are modern, carefully designed games which although not yet widely known, are well liked by children where they have been exposed to the games. The main advantage is that the rules are much simpler than chess. Hence teachers are able to engage more readily with the children on how to think about their moves. Strategy board games with simpler rules allow the pupils to detect strategies and other patterns by themselves. Such games are also referred to as abstract games or as mathematical games because they are amenable to mathematical analysis whilst at the same time being enjoyable to play. Following a motion by the European Parliament in 2012, chess has been introduced into schools in many places. Portugal is the only country where a wide range of strategy board games are being formally taught and played in schools due to the efforts of Ludus in promoting strategy games alongside mathematics teaching. The annual national mathematical games competition in Portugal embraces some 120,000 pupils participating by school and region. 8 by 8 extends Ludus's vision to a European dimension by introducing three dynamic partners from France, Austria and the UK. The Haus der Mathematik in Vienna excels at developing mathematical exhibits and outreach materials. It is a part of the Pädagogische Hochschule Wien which is leading the qualification and continued professional training of mathematics teachers in Austria. The Académie de Créteil regional school authority near Paris develops innovative ways to teach one million pupils in its area. It has a track record of more than 130 innovative programmes over several years. ChessPlus, a London-based educational consultancy, has developed teacher training courses for classroom chess and for mathematics and chess that are being run throughout Europe in conjunction with the European Chess Union. ChessPlus also organises the annual leading conference on chess in education, when we are planning to embed our "Beyond Chess" multiplier event at the London Chess Conference in December 2020. Mathematics teaching in primary schools is too often reduced to the acquisition of number operations at the cost of logic and problem-solving skills. Our pedagogic method and material utilises the problem-solving methodology of the Hungarian mathematician and educator George Pólya which has also informed the famed mathematics teaching of Singapore. Solving problems in games promises to be transferable to mathematics on the pyschological principle of "near transfer". Furthermore, the pupils will be empowered to reflect on how they know, learn and think. Such metacognitive skills are increasingly recognised by educational psychologists as crucial for pupils to become highly efficient learners. 8 by 8 will select the most suitable strategy board games, mini-games, variants and exercises. It will advise on the target ages and levels of difficulty. Furthermore, it will recommend game heuristics and graphical organisers which empower the pupils to understand how to play these games in an enjoyable yet instructive way. In addition to these cognitive aims, the teachers will be trained to deliver behavioural rules and game etiquette. The classroom activity will be accompanied by qualitative research through observation and, in some cases, interviews with the teachers and children, We will also advise participant teachers regarding action research in their classroom. Ultimately, 8 by 8 strives to raise and broaden the educational profile of strategy board games. We wish to inspire a wealth of followers who will learn of our approach through our partners, conferences, publications and social media. And we foresee numerous follow-up projects.
We show that simple strategy games benefit children in learning to think mathematically and solve problems and also empowers their educators. Only one strategy game is widely used in education systems internationally: chess. But chess has weaknesses. Its complexity overwhelms many teachers and a significant part of the pupils. While some of us felt that simpler strategy games could give pupils deeper learning experiences than chess, one partner had already shown the way: Ludus has been training teachers and providing games-based teaching materials in Portugal since 2003. We make other strategy games than chess available for classroom teaching through a teacher-friendly manual, teacher training online and in-person, and an online teaching tool. We show that strategy games-based teaching is effective and empowering.
Ludus needed resources to improve its teaching materials and teaching methods and learn from educational research, whereas the foreign partners wanted to tap the Portuguese experience with strategy games in the classroom, especially with regard to mathematics. We needed funding to test strategy games in the classroom, to systematically observe pupils while they are learning and playing strategy games, to develop a teacher training, to produce a teacher manual, to co-develop an online teaching tool with an associated partner, and to disseminate our results. Many pupils have problems with comprehending mathematics. Many teachers have difficulty to promote these struggling pupils. Primary school teachers generally lack ways of teaching problem solving skills. Mathematics teaching can benefit greatly from an alternative, novel way of conveying mathematical thinking and problem solving skills.