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BridgeAtSchools, Inc. |
| "Giving Youth a Hand for the Future" | |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Playing Bridge Makes
the Grade? BridgeAtSchools
Researches Game’s Educational Value as a Curriculum, Launches Website
Wilmington, DE – May 10, 2002 – BridgeAtSchools, Inc., an organization committed to researching the educational value of the game of bridge in order to develop and introduce in-school bridge curricula across the United States and Canada, has launched a new website, www.bridgeatschools.org.
The impetus to study the benefits of learning the world’s most popular card game comes on the heels of a heightened national educational agenda. In math, critical thinking, and other disciplines, US students hold fewer and fewer trump cards over students abroad. Departments of Education, educators, and parents share a renewed interest in adopting innovative, effective curricula and high-quality after-school programs that reinforce basic educational skills, and BridgeAtSchools believes the game of bridge is an ideal platform for such initiatives.
“Other countries such as France and Italy faced a similar educational scenario 10 to 20 years ago,” according to David Idleman, Director of Marketing and Research at BridgeAtSchools, “and once they introduced pilot bridge programs into schools and recognized the profound impact it had on students’ grades, attitudes, and behaviors, they developed and implemented a nationwide curriculum suited to their infrastructure.”
Bridge is believed to improve mathematical reasoning, memory, concentration, critical thinking, teamwork, communication, decision making, confidence, and self-worth. Since no scientific studies exist in the US, BridgeAtSchools will be conducting pilot projects to measure the success of bridge on students at different grade levels. BridgeAtSchools is soliciting private and corporate funding to coordinate these studies in order to document bridge’s educational effectiveness and to secure its endorsement by the US Department of Education as a valid curriculum.
For more information about BridgeAtSchools visit the website www.bridgeatschools.org or phone Beth Maloney-Refaie, Executive Director, at (302) 765-9799.