PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - John Jerrim
AU  - Lindsey Macmillan
AU  - John Micklewright
AU  - Mary Sawtell
AU  - Meg Wiggins
TI  - Does teaching children how to play cognitively demanding games improve their educational attainment? Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial of chess instruction in England
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.53.4.0516.7952R
DP  - 2017 Jun 07
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0516-7952R
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2017/06/01/jhr.53.4.0516.7952R.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2017/06/01/jhr.53.4.0516.7952R.full
AB  - A number of studies suggest that teaching children how to play chess may have an impact upon their educational attainment. Yet the strength of this evidence is undermined by limitations with research design. This paper attempts to overcome these limitations by presenting evidence from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving more than 4,000 children in England. In contrast to much of the existing literature, we find no evidence of an effect of chess instruction upon children’s mathematics, reading or science test scores. Our results provide a timely reminder of the need for social scientists to employ robust research designs.