The best age to begin studies of Go are when students are in school. Elementary, intermediate and high school students can benefit from a structured Go program. We have developed curricula for school age students that focus on building Go skills step by step. Integrated with etiquette, tournament and cultural backgrounds our programs develop thinking skills, broadening students education in cross-cultural dimensions.
Go has been shown to improve brain growth by a Korean group of neuroscientists in their paper, which appears in the August 2010 issue of NeuroImage.
Our curriculum covers specific tactics and strategies interlaced with discussions, problem solving, practice games and supervised teaching games. Students first begin on small 9×9 boards to understand the mechanics of play and how to capture stones. Moving at their own pace, students progress to playing the full game on 13×13 and 19×19 boards. Subject materials include:
- capturing stones
- atari on the second line
- ladders
- double ataris
- nets
- bamboo joints
- safe groups (life)
- etc.
Cultural subjects can include:
- the origins of Go
- Go etiquette
- Go around the world
- etc.
If you are interested in holding a Go Program at your school contact us for more details and to find out how the Santa Fe Go Club can contribute.