People, Places, Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess

ISBN-13: 9781591588504

146 pages • 8½ x 11
 2010

Implement the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) curriculum standards in your classroom with People, Places, Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess. In this unique volume, 15 lesson plans teach culture, history, geography, and citizenship through the history of chess and its relationship to art, civics, culture, economics, geography, government, and technology.

Each 40-minute lesson plan includes an NCSS theme, materials and sources, procedure, and evaluation. Each lesson is followed by an optional 10-25 minute chess exercise, composed of teacher background, procedure and materials, expected time, and evaluation. A separate chapter teaches the chess basics necessary for your students to actually play chess and successfully complete the optional exercises. Lesson plans complement upper elementary and middle school curricula in world history, U.S. history, geography, and social studies.

Fifteen chess-enhanced lesson plans address National Council for the Social Studies standards for grades 4-8.

Chess has been played and influenced by Silk Road traders, medieval nobility, U.S. political leaders, and ordinary citizens of many nations. There is even a musical called Chess, illustrating the clash of freedom and state control during the Cold War. Tracing chess through history teaches students about other times, places, and cultures, helping them see patterns of continuity and change.