Metacognition Application: The Use of Chess as a Strategy to Improve the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore chess as an alternative strategy to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics. Purposive sampling was used to identify 25 experimental group learners and 26 control group learners. Experimental learners were drawn from two schools that offered chess, while control group learners were drawn from five non-chess-training schools. As such, 51 learners provided the data. The researcher administered a group test in an attempt to triangulate the findings of the study. Using chess as an alternative strategy to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics, it emerged from the main findings that the control group learners made far more contextual errors, compared to the experimental group, on the various problems that were presented. It also emerged that non-experimental learners were poorer in applying required basic steps to arrive at answers to the activities given to them compared to the experimental learners. The study further found that while both groups committed blended contextual and procedural errors, control group learners were dominant as compared to the experimental learners. This implies that the experimental group applied more metacognition in various problems and therefore outperformed the control group in the group test. Based on the above findings, the study concludes that chess training improves both teachers’ and learners’ application of metacognition in supporting learners’ performance in mathematics. The study recommends that since the use of chess serves as an alternative strategy to positively improve the teaching and learning of mathematics, chess training can be introduced to schools to enhance the mathematics performance of learners.