Bridging the Technology Gap: Can a game really make a difference? By Darbi Southers
When nine year old Konner Spalding of Versailles began playing Bridge with her grandparents four years ago, her family didn’t anticipate the impact the game would have on her education.
“Konner wanted to spend more time with her grandparents and go on ‘vacations’ [to tournaments],” said Konner’s mother, Ashley Spalding. “But I’ve seen an improvement in math skills as well as critical thinking. Obviously there’s a lot of strategy in Bridge.”
According to Dr. Christopher Shaw, a researcher from Carlinville IL, Konner’s educational advances have everything to do with the game she enjoys playing. Dr. Shaw performed a five-year study to determine the impact playing Bridge may have on the standardized testing scores of its younger players.
Shaw examined six groups of fifth graders from the Carlinville Public Schools who were similar in academic ability. One group learned to play Bridge as part of its math instruction, but the other five groups did not. All of the students took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITSB) before Bridge instruction began and then again in sixth grade and seventh grade. The results were overwhelming.
Shaw found that students who learned to play Bridge showed greater improvements during their junior high years than their non-bridge playing classmates in the subject areas of Reading, Language, Math, Science and Social Science. Most notably, the young Bridge players out-scored their counterparts by 39.31% in Science, 24.22% in Math, and 22.74% in Social Science.
“Konner has always been a good student, but Bridge has taken her to another level for a fourth grader,” said her mother, Ashley. “She thinks before she plays. Using her critical thinking skills she makes a plan to try and determine what cards her opponents are holding.”
The improvement that learning Bridge provides to students’ test scores is believed to be imbedded in the cognitive skill of reasoning, a critical skill involved in bridge.
“Bridge is a game that develops inferential reasoning skills, which are very difficult to teach elementary students,” stated Shaw. “These skills appear to be used in all five subject areas in middle school.”
Why is it that reasoning skills are lacking in students with no Bridge experience? The answer may lie in technology. While modern technology is crucial to education, it also has its downfalls; one is the ability to process information for the user without much thought or cognitive reasoning on their behalf.
Jamie McKenzie, author of Beyond Technology: Questioning, Research and the Information Literate School (FNO Press, 2000), explores the effect of "data smog" and the importance of engaging students in higher-level questioning and research activities. McKenzie noted that many states are changing their standardized tests to require more original thought and inferential reasoning.
As parents, we want our children to be successful in their educational endeavors, and sometimes that means thinking out of the box to find ways to challenge them. Learning to play Bridge can be a fun way to engage your child and teach the critical thinking skills they may be missing out on in the classroom.
“I like playing Bridge, meeting people and travelling,” Konner Spalding said. “It would be great for lots of kids to learn to play Bridge because it helps with math and gets your mind working. You can also meet other kids, too!”
School systems are beginning to take advantage of the education programs made available to them through the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL).
In its second year, Konner’s grandparents, Sandra and Michael Marlin, teach an after school bridge class at their granddaughter’s school. Not only have nine students returned from last year, but another eight have joined, giving Konner plenty of friends to play with. One of the newer members is her five-year-old sibling, Kendall, who according to her mother, Ashley, says can already count her points and place her cards in suits and numerical order.
“Konner has been able to interact with many different people because of playing bridge,” said mother Ashley. “She communicates well with adults and kids her own age, and has met people from different states and countries during tournament play. Bridge has been such a worthwhile experience for her.”
Story posted online at: http://www.lexingtonfamily.com/extras/may%2011/bridge.html
