| Roundtable: Evaluating Academic Outcomes and Higher Order Thinking Skills in an Educational Setting |
| Roundtable Presentation 664 to be held in Balboa A on Friday, Nov 4, 1:35 PM to 2:20 PM |
| Sponsored by the Pre-K - 12 Educational Evaluation TIG |
| Presenter(s): |
| George Chitiyo, Tennessee Technological University, gkchitiyo@yahoo.com |
| Lisa Zagumny, Tennessee Technological University, lzagumny@tntech.edu |
| Deborah Setliff, Tennessee Technological University, dsetliff@tntech.edu |
| Abstract: An ambitious quasi-experiment was developed that seeks to assess if there are benefits in terms of academic achievement and higher order thinking skills if the mathematics curriculum in middle school is modified to include chess playing. If chess as an instructional heuristic, rather than an extracurricular after-school program, impacts academic outcomes and critical thinking, the model can be implemented on a larger scale in order to reach a greater number of students. This presentation seeks to generate a discussion among evaluators concerning their experience and challenges in the evaluation process of this, and similar projects, including trying to make sense of the oxymoron that they know part of the outcomes are in the long run, and yet the circumstances allow them to only assess short term outcomes. |