Chess, visual memory and geometric transformations

Abstract

This work shows how playing chess creates capacities in the student such as increasing visual memory. This helps to classify information in an orderly manner in the mind and contributes to a better understanding of geometric transformations such as displacements, turns and similarities. This was done with a mixed technique (Quantitative and Qualitative), starting with a structured questionnaire that was applied to 487 students. A case study was carried out with two students (one with and the other without notable chess skills) in two schools in Bogotá-Colombia, with the aim of understanding chess as a tool that can help the teacher to teach mathematics¡. In the quantitative part, data were collected by a structured questionnaire, and in the qualitative part, recordings and transcripts were made of what the two students reported in the case study. So, favorable results were achieved for students who usually play chess, because they show a great capacity for visual memory (in the long and short term) that contributes to a more optimal learning of displacements and similarities in the Cartesian plane. This research shows a powerful tool (chess) that can be used in the teaching of mathematics, thanks to the skills and concepts that are generated in the experience with the game.

Keywords

• chess, memory, visualization, geometric transformation