Investigation of the Effect of Chess Game on the Development of Acquisitions within Renewed Curriculum According to Pre-service Teachers

Abstract

The Ministry of Education put in practice a renewed curriculum which includes many elective courses in order to allow students to develop key competencies and to acquire many skills. One of them is an elective chess course. Therefore, the aim of the study is to investigate whether the chess lesson allows students to develop key competencies and to acquire basic skills of the renewed curriculum according to the opinions of pre-service teachers who take up elective chess courses. Research is a descriptive study which was conducted with 141 pre-service teachers from three departments of an education faculty. Data was obtained with a scale established by the researcher. The results show that there is a statistical difference between pre-service teachers’ thoughts about chess that would have a positive effect on the students’ skills and acquisitions. And there is no statistical difference between their beliefs in terms of their gender and departments. As the teachers’ experiences of chess playing increased, it also positively affected their beliefs that chess would have a positive effect on the skills and acquisitions envisaged in the program. It is advised that pre-service teachers must take elective courses to improve their skills during university education to improve their prospective students’ potential.

Keywords

• chess game
• competency
• skills
• elective courses