The C.A.S.T.L.E. project – a “Chess curriculum to Advance Students’ Thinking and Learning skills in primary Education” (this acronym reminds of the casteling move) was born from the idea of creating a strong partnership in the field of chess in schools, under the initial thrust of three partners with considerable experience in teaching chess in schools: Alfiere Bianco (White Bishop) in Italy, Deutsche Schulschachstiftung (the German school chess foundation) in Germany, Club Ajedrez 64 Villalba in Spain.
The project, funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ program (€ 246.300) for the three-year period 2015- 2017 included the Ministry of Education bodies in Piedmont and Madrid, the University of Turin and three leading schools: IC “B. Muzzone “ in Racconigi, Grundschule Hammerschmiede Ausburg (Munich) and Ceip San Miguel Arcangel Madrid. In addition to the partner school and as stakeholder, has been added FIDE (the International Chess Federation, supporting the creation of the video course: “Psychomotor Development Classes on a Giant Chessboard”) and and six more schools in the three countries.
Official sponsor of the Conference is Le Due Torri chess store.
Due to CASTLE, there were 50 Primary School teachers in the three countries, so they were able to give chess lessons and schedule them in their own school time. The tools provided to them, introduced in this project in the 50 classes of Primary School, in addition to training and the use of chess instructors (20) in the role of tutors, are psychomotor activity on the giant chess board, chess “on the school desk” and chess activity on the WEB (Victor’s chess house – 1 and 2).
The program of courses consists in starting-up 5 first grade classes and 5 second grade classes with psychomotor activity, 5 third grade classes with chess on the desk and WEB, the first year and in each country (900 children). During the second and third year, each class was able to experiment with the new teaching protocol, which was regularly reviewed and improved through teacher and tutor working groups.
The peculiarity of the project lies in the ability to provide new elements to the school world, which help to improve teaching through a more active use of child intelligence, with adequate measurement of outcomes through tools provided by the University of Turin and the Education bodies from two countries. Ultimately, this will be helpful in changing the educational policies of the EU Member States, in full compliance with the European Parliament declaration of 15/03/2012 favouring the introduction of “School Chess” in European education systems.
The Conference will be held in Turin/Italy, on 26 May 2017, in Hotel Royal. More than 250 people are expected to come to listen to the keynote speakers and lecturers. The simultaneous translation from English to Italian and vice versa will be provided. The registration for the Conference is free and can be done here.
The full program of the Conference can be found below:
Information: digennaro@alfierebianco.com – www.castleproject.eu