The fourth edition of the London Chess and Education Conference will take place on 10-11 December 2016 at the Hilton Kensington Olympia. As usual it coincides with the first weekend of the London Chess Classic held at the Olympia Conference Centre. The theme of the Conference is “The Didactics of Chess”. The event is supported by Chess in Schools and Communities.

The theme focuses on the practice of teaching in the classroom – how to engage and enthuse children, how to bring the whole class together, reviews of best practice, teaching tips from leading experts, and so on. Our first year focused on the benefits to schools, in our second year we explored the relationships between chess and mathematics, last year we outlined the interactions between chess and society. This year we return to the basics.

We expect the conference to comprise around 150 people with a very international flavour. All of the attendees have a keen interest in some aspect of chess education, whether as tutors, teachers, educationists, journalists or researchers. Not all are expert chess players by any means.

We are currently working on the Programme for the event and will be sending out an invitation to suggest topics.  We are very interested to hear from people with practical experience of teaching chess and other strategy games in the classroom or after school.

Here is a provisional list of suggested sessions:

• Using Chess in Primary School Mathematics
• Promoting Metacognition through Chess
• Teaching Chess together with other Strategy Games
• Chess for Disadvantaged Students
• Training Teachers to Teach Chess
• Certification for Quality Chess Instruction
• Lobbying for Chess in the Education Community
• Evaluating Chess in Education Projects
• From School Chess to Junior Chess
• Raising Chess Talent
• Business Models in Chess Teaching
• Chess in Libraries, Science Centres and other Informal Settings
• Chess as a Model for Scientific Research
• Chess History Research with a Social Perspective

We have had much interest from potential speakers and non-speaking delegates already. Although the deadline for this was 28 September 2016, we are still minded to consider additional presentations on the above themes, proposals for additional sessions and proposals for debating issues. If you would like to submit one, please send us a suggested title and abstract as soon as possible.

Email at conference@chessinschools.co.uk

2016 Conference: The Didactics of Chess website

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