What is Ho Math Chess?

Frank Ho and Amanda Ho

BC certified math teacher

Founder of Ho Math Chess Learning Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Ho Math Chess is a game-based math teaching method especially designed for elementary students (from kindergarten to grade 7). It was invented in Canada by a Canadian math teacher Frank Ho. Later his wife Amanda Ho also joined the research and development team and together they created special workbooks. How Ho Math Chess was invented? Below is a short description by Mr. Frank Ho. When I was a teenager and grew up in Taiwan, I went to a few learning centers including general purpose and some specialty learning centers (like English only) and also went to my teacher’s home to prepare for junior high entrance examination. The purpose of these learning centers is for one simple reason that is to cram students with exam questions so students can get higher marks, there is no other real mission. None of these learning centers expanded or made their businesses to the international stage since they were geared to prepare for local exams and they exist or die depending on local education policy. In recollection, I realized how wrong it was, in long term, to learn something for the sole purpose of getting better in exam, although I agree the marks are important and some employers only recognize marks for new graduates. But learning for the purpose of getting high marks without training to think is definitely wrong, and it affects one's vision for the future. Today, there are still many learning centers out there like the ones I went to. They just mainly advocate kids to do basic computations or simply prepare for exams etc. Their teaching style and way of running business is still the same as the learning centers I went when I was young, nothing much were changed. Since I realized the way of my learning was wrong when I grew old, I never wanted to teach my own kids the way learning centers taught me when I was

young. I never sent my own kids to any learning centers until I set up my own learning center. I never had a mind to start a supplemental education business except by coincidence. When my son was about 6 years old, he asked me what was the use of a chess set which was left on the table in the living room. It was given to me as a gift by my former colleagues at the Faculty of Education when I quit working at the University of British Columbia. My son’s curiosity got me thinking on how to “educate” him so he could learn chess and this led me to investigate on how math and chess are related. My research and study resulted in my invention of Geometry Chess Symbols. When my son’s classmates’ parents told me that they would like to enroll in my tutoring classes if I started one. I knew I did not want to set up a learning center for the purpose of just cramming school stuff and for just getting higher marks. So I had the idea of using chess as a tool to train their critical thinking skills. After my over 20 years of devotion in research and study the interrelation of math and chess and I found out that my teaching method of integrating math and chess in deed generates more interests in math for children than the traditional worksheets. I found out that some kids’ progress were very slow or even stagnant, despite how hard I explained concepts or tried to teach them again and again. I discovered one major contributing factor, which caused the problem and this promoted me change the way I teach. I discovered that the weak math students tend to not like the IQ type of questions and the condition is reversed for strong math students under the condition these questions do not even require any math knowledge other than analyzing, comparing, sorting, or collating. This tells me that the weak math students perhaps have a problem that is their brains are not trained or fit for doing math problems (and thus they do not want to do much math problems.) Because of this discovery, today Ho Math program also incorporates puzzles and it consists of 5 major components:

1. Basic computations 2. Problem Solving 3. Chess 4. Math and IQ Puzzles 5. Math Contests problems

Why Ho Math Chess is unique and effective?

Ho Math Chess is unique in its teaching philosophy and teaching method. To create the worksheets for the above 5 major components, Ho Math Chess™

uses proprietary and internationally copyrighted intellectual properties such as Geometry Chess Symbols, Frankho ChessMaze, Frankho ChessDoku, Ho Math Chess Teaching Set, and Math Contest Preparation. Ho Math Chess is created based on founder Frank’s belief that math learning must be effective and fun. Ho Math is fun to work with and also it improves children’s math marks. It also improves children’s brainpower and at the same time, children also learn a social game, which will last life time. Chess is competitive and also is a social game, it connects people and provides chance for improving social skills and improves children’s critical thinking skills. Chess is one of the best education manipulatives. How Ho Math Chess worksheets differ from others? Ho Math Chess is a math teaching method invented by a Canadian math teacher Frank Ho. Frank intrigued by the relationships between math and chess after teaching his son chess started Vancouver Ho Math Chess™ learning

center over 20 years ago. His long-term devotion of research has led his son to become a FIDE chess master and also the publications, along with Amanda Ho, of over 30 math, chess, and puzzles workbooks for children. The trademarked name "Ho Math Chess" reveals part of its history of "Ho Math Chess" and its tradition. Working on mathematical chess puzzles is an excellent way of improving problem-solving ability. By combining chess, puzzles, and math problems together, Frank wrote the world's first math and chess integrated elementary student workbook for children. Frank also invented Geometry Chess Symbols and also Ho Math Chess Teaching Set so that children as young as 4-year old can learn chess much easier than using the traditional 3-D chess set. Using Geometry Chess Symbol, Frank created the world’s first and copyrighted Frankho ChessMaze. The Illinois (USA) data has shown that Ho Math Chess teaching method is statistically significant in raising students' math marks. Today, Ho Math Chess ™ is an international brand name in franchised math specialty learning centre business. Ho Math Chess ™ is the leader in the areas

of research, marketing, and teaching integrated chess and math to elementary students. Ho Math Chess ™ learning center is the only supplemental education franchise dedicated to teaching children math using math, chess, and puzzles integrated workbooks. It is now the world largest franchised scholastic math and chess tutoring organization with worldwide locations to serve including offices in Vancouver, Canada. Mr. Frank Ho invented the unique Math and Chess teaching method in 1995. Today when people talk about Math and Chess, they think about the leading research organization in this highly specialized field - Ho Math Chess. Ho Math Chess and Math and Chess are synonyms. What are the purposes of Ho Math Chess? The purposes of Ho Math Chess teaching method are to:

Raise math marks.

Improve critical thinking ability. Improve chess ability.

Improve brainpower. What is the background of Frank Ho? Frank Ho, a Canadian certified math teacher, coined the learning centre term Math and Chess and he also founded the world's first math and chess learning centre by creating the world's first math and chess integrated workbooks for elementary students in Vancouver, Canada. He invented Frankho Symbolic Chess Language, intriguing Frankho ChessMaze and Frankho ChessDoku, and also a unique new chess teaching set. He published math and chess teaching theoretic basis in a Canadian math journal. The USA Illinois research data has shown statistically significant that Ho Math Chess teaching method increases children's math marks and also improves children's critical thinking skills. The Ho Math Chess Teaching Set can improve children's memory by playing half-blind chess.