ULethbridge Alumna Jade Oldfield wins international chess award for research on executive function in at-risk youth

Every year, Chess.com selects five students to win a Chessable Research Award. This prestigious international prize is awarded on an annual basis to graduate and undergraduate students conducting university-level chess research. Applications from all areas of study are eligible for consideration including psychology, education, history and science. As the largest chess corporation in the world with over 100 million subscribers, to say the odds of being selected are one in a million would not be an oversight. Leaving nothing to chance, University of Lethbridge alumna and current neuroscience student, Jade Oldfield (BEd ‘18), is now a 2024 Chessable Research Award winner.

Research on the board

Oldfield's award-winning project, Chess for Life: Building Executive Functions in Adolescents, researches teenage executive functions and how play-based interventions can improve executive function skills. Her research further studies the impacts of chess play on executive function in at-risk youth. 

“We know that adolescence is a really important and often vulnerable point in a person's life where their brain is developing faster than they can put a sentence together. We want to leverage that change in such a way that supports them and helps them build skills such as thinking before they act, cognitive inhibition, working memory and being able to shift perspectives, all skills that can be notoriously challenging for teenagers.”

Jade conducts her research by examining a control group in comparison to two programs, Building Brains Together organized by Dr. Robbin Gibb (BASc '77, MSc '01, PhD '04) and Dr. Claudia Gonzalez, and Chess for Life organized by Dr. Lance Grigg, all of which are members of her research committee. Building Brains Together aims to increase executive function in children through a curriculum of research-supported play while Chess for Life is a restorative justice program that provides an alternative sentencing measure for at-risk youth. Participants in the Chess for Life program learn about chess, space, time, and harmony, decision making and applying the same principles to their lives. 

One of the findings derived from Jade’s research came from a Grade 7 classroom where students played a selection of 15-minute games three times a week over the course of six weeks. Prior to the six-week period, girls in the classroom rated themselves as less competent than the boys with respect to executive functions, while the boys generally rated themselves more competent. Following the games, the girls saw greater improvements in executive functioning skills compared to the boys.

“What we’re thinking is that this could be a bit of a response to puberty. Because girls tend to enter puberty earlier, we may be hitting the window for them at that Grade 7 point. We hope to see similar results in the Chess for Life program and the reason we can say that is because we're using the same testing protocol,” says Jade. 

A return to the educational realm

Despite having Dr. Grigg as a professor during her time as an undergraduate student, Jade was not introduced to the Chess for Life program until she returned to ULethbridge years later to pursue a Master of Science in Neuroscience. While researching the process of completing a graduate degree, she connected with Dr. Gibb who brought up an opportunity to conduct research within Chess for Life.

“She told me a little bit about the program and I was immediately sold. I had previous interactions with Dr. Grigg during my education degree and was excited to be able to pull my two worlds together. That has been my focus since coming back and a big passion of mine, bringing my Bachelor of Education into the Master of Science and really looking at unique and diverse learners and how we can support them through an understanding of neuroscience.” 

Jade further reflected on how she never would have guessed she’d be working alongside those who taught her as a student. Her ULethbridge journey began in 2009 as she pursued a BA/BEd combined degree. After taking a few years off to explore various career paths and attain a Bachelor of Arts from Athabasca University, Jade realized she wanted to be part of the education world and returned to ULethbridge in 2016 to start the After Degree program.

“I never could have imagined the amount of support and passion that existed on this side of things from not only Lance, but all the other amazing Faculty of Education professors that I’ve been able to work with, either directly or indirectly. It’s been amazing coming back as a graduate student and being able to work with them, not quite as a colleague, but as an equally passionate educator and just learning from them as we go.”

Jade expressed a deep gratitude and appreciation for her research committee and their contributions towards her research project. It was Dr. Grigg who urged Jade to submit her project for consideration of a Chessable Research Award.

“It’s really nice having the work put out there. Not even so much the personal recognition but the fact that the Chess for Life program has been going as long as it has and has anecdotally had so much success. Now we’re looking at proving why.”

What's next?

Jade now sets her sights on more pieces coming together to bolster the profile of the program and collaborating with others invested in the research to build sustainability for the program. “One of the best ways to do that is by providing some quantitative research that supports the good we know it’s already doing,” says Jade.  

Having received approval from the Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta to conduct research programming in prisons and youth incarceration centers, Jade looks forward to carrying her work with the Chess for Life program into a PhD program. With current partnerships already in place with the Edmonton Young Offender Centre and Lethbridge Correctional Centre, Jade and the rest of the Chess for Life team will look to continue expanding the program.

“I'm fortunate that I can focus on the research piece due to the amazing student volunteers and faculty that are so passionate about working directly with the kids and working alongside me to make it all happen. Even though I was fortunate enough to be recognized for the research award, there are many people who contribute to the program's success.” 

Passions beyond the board

Keeping her feet within the educational sphere, Jade completed an Independent Study with Dr. Charlotte Brenner looking at inclusive education in Albertan schools and also works alongside Dr. Chris Mattatall on the Teaching Centre Advisory Council. She will continue research this fall with Dr. Brenner and Dr. Sharon Pelech exploring the impacts of place-based learning and outdoor education on social-emotional learning. 

“One of the reasons I’m so excited is because outdoor education and being outdoors is one of my biggest passions. I love dirt biking, camping and working with Cadets Canada as an Instruction Officer. I love being outside or in the mountains with no service, just enjoying the views.”