Unique research project involves at-risk youth sentenced to playing chess

caroline.zentner — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:51:12 +0000

Local youth involved in the criminal justice system are being referred to a program where they learn to play chess as part of their sentence. The Chess for Life program is a research project that aims to explore how learning to play chess affects youths’ thinking and the choices they make every day.

After a local judge sentenced a youth to practice basketball a couple of years ago, Dr. Lance Grigg, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge associate professor in education, brought up the possibility of learning to play chess as a possible alternative sentence for youth involved in the criminal justice system. The judge liked the idea and Grigg organized a trial run of the Chess for Life program last year.

“I had a handful of youth,” says Grigg. “They came regularly, the youth were engaged and one of them even started playing chess online. It worked and I got good reports from the people the kids were working with.”

A team came together to work on the Chess for Life program, including Dr. Monique Sedgwick, an associate professor in nursing, and Dr. Jeffrey MacCormack, assistant professor in education. Josh Markle, an instructor in the Faculty of Education, and Riley Kostek, a teacher at Victoria Park High School, joined the team as research assistants.

Since mid-January, Markle, Kostek and Grigg have provided chess instruction on Friday afternoons to five youth, ranging in age from 12 to 18, who have been referred to the program by the Crown, the judge and the probation officer. The instructors help the youth think ahead and plan their moves — all the way to the end of the game.

“We have conversations about chess and we don’t have to go very far before they start to draw parallels between what we’re talking about and their own lives,” says Markle. “I can see change already.”

“There are a lot of rules to chess,” says Grigg. “In the first four moves alone, there are over 300 billion options. So, there are a lot of rules that make possible a lot of creativity. Chess needs planning, you need memory and you need to be able to see the consequences of actions before you make them.”

MacCormack brought his expertise on executive function to the project. Chess has been shown to positively impact executive function, which includes skills such as planning, making decisions, remembering, thinking flexibly and developing self-control.

“As kids become better chess players, they aren’t just learning how to play a game; they’re learning to play the game of life,” says MacCormack.

“There’s very little in the research literature that deals with the youth experience involved in the criminal justice system, let alone in alternate sentencing,” says Sedgwick. “We want to hear their voices to see whether or not they feel that this program has changed them somehow. We also want to hear from the adults who are involved with these youths to see if the chess program is influencing how the youth see themselves.”

The Chess for Life program will continue until the end of May. The program is not yet funded but the Faculty of Education is paying the salaries for the research assistants. Team members are applying for additional funding and hope to offer the program again and even expand it provincially.

Dual credit initiative introduces high school students to university coursework

caroline.zentner — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 18:01:24 +0000

Twenty-seven high school students at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute are earning both high school and university credits through a dual credit initiative (DCI) with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge that began in September.

Liberal Education 1000 is being taught by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professors Dr. Bruce MacKay, co-ordinator of the Faculty of Arts and Science’s Liberal Education program, Dr. Lance Grigg, a Faculty of Education professor who teaches critical thinking skills, and Aaron Stout, a social studies teacher at LCI. The course is a version of the same one that’s been offered at the U of L for years.

At the front of the classroom, Dr. Bruce MacKay, at left, and Dr. Lance Grigg are providing Lethbridge Collegiate Institute students with the opportunity to earn university credits while still in high school.

The students — most are in Grade 11— get together for two lectures and three labs each week. In addition, the students receive several workshops with U of L librarian Nicole Eva to develop their information literacy skills and introduce them to doing library research. The course explores knowledge across disciplines, including the sciences, the social sciences, the humanities and fine arts. For the DCI, the question students are examining is ‘What should we eat?’

“They are using tools, skills and attitudes associated with critical thinking to read articles in natural science, social science, humanities and arts to develop their own arguments and make their own reasoned judgments addressing that question,” says Grigg.

“We ask the students to think about what we should eat from a scientific perspective and for health. We ask them to consider how we should feed the population on the planet, and whether industrial farming or local, organic farming is the best way to go,” says MacKay. “Like the course on campus, the students are writing tests on the content of the material, they’re doing a series of smaller exercises for grades that lead up to a final project. The final project is their answer to the question ‘What should we eat?’”

The course came about after Alberta Education opened its doors to dual credit program proposals and approved the joint LCI-U of L submission. After two years of planning, the three-year pilot program launched in September. Since Alberta Education is subsidizing the program, students don’t pay tuition fees but they have full access to U of L facilities and resources.

Students have responded positively to the dual credit course and have shown themselves to be eager learners.

“One of the things I’m really happy with is the critical thinking. Just over the last few months, it’s changed how I think about things. Before, I’d look at things and make decisions based on everyone around me. Now I can take a step back and look at things critically,” says Daniel O’Connor, a Grade 11 student.

“We cover a lot of different topics. We just finished the science aspect and now we’re doing social sciences,” says Jhanvi Mehta, a Grade 11 student. “So it’s nice to see how that all ties in with our overall question, which is ‘What should we eat?’”

“I enjoyed learning about the different kind of arguments and the proper ways to argue. Plenty of politicians argue and you realize they’re not always doing it the right way,” says Aurora Gray, a Grade 12 student. “It makes you think about how to show your information and prove what you’re saying.”

The professors and Stout agree the course is going well and they’re impressed with how the students are engaging with the material and asking pertinent questions.

“It’s really exciting for me to see what high school students, when brought into a different context, can actually do,” says Stout.

Another component of the course is a partnership with industry. WestJet is the official partner for the course. Stout says a WestJet representative will be presenting to the class as a way to illustrate how critical thinking skills apply in the world of business. In addition, Precon Manufacturing has indicated its willingness to show students the link between critical thinking and its industry.

The students will gain credit for a locally developed course at the high school level and three university credits. The LibEd 1000 course will wrap up in December and another dual credit course in systems and supply chain management will be taught next year, with Haul-All as the industry partner.

UNews - Dr. Lance Grigg

Unique research project involves at-risk youth sentenced to playing chess

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Dual credit initiative introduces high school students to university coursework

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