Ann-Marie Wisdom, acting principal of Jamaica China Goodwill Infant School in Kingston, says since the partnership with the National Association of Domino Bodies (NADB) to introduce domino as an extracurricular activity, she has seen improvement in students’ academics.

Wisdom, who has been acting in the role since October 2022, said she has been impressed to see her students learn life lessons from board games.

“When I started there in 2019, the domino programme was already here at the school, and so I would have been exposed to it from then on. My class was a part of the programme, and I thought it was really interesting and good,” Wisdom told OBSERVER ONLINE.

“I must tell you, that domino, to me, was just a matching game, but since being exposed to his [NADB Vice-President Humbert Davis’] strategy and all of that, I see it to be way more than just a matching game, and I saw how much it has helped the students,” she added.

“To me, they are more settled. At first, I would normally choose students who I thought were less focused and all of that to go to his class, and I found that it worked so well for them. They enjoyed doing it. It’s really good; it is really something that I would encourage all schools to be a part of,” the acting principal said, applauding the programme.

Wisdom noted that dominoes contribute not only to learning but also to the personal development and growth of the students.

“Definitely, it is very important with critical thinking. As it is right now, we have two classes that are exposed to it and those are the children who will be going off to primary school, so they are like five and six [years old],” Wisdom explained.

“So, it’s class three that’s doing it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It appears to help them with real-life situations. It helps them to recognise patterns, shapes, dots, and lines, and I am telling you, I am seeing a lot of difference in their academics since they are exposed to domino,” she disclosed.

The NADB’s vice president Humbert Davis said the association aims to invest in children.

“The NADB is constantly evaluating and analysing its core functions and processes in order to improve the game. Our aim is to better the students in Jamaica, education-wise, and to help prepare our students to face real-life situations,” Davis said

“The objectives of the programme are surrounded by these three main words: conduct, contract, and construct. The individuals involved will get an understanding of these three words in a more practical sense, using domino as the cellular units in achieving this understanding,” he continued.

Ruddy Allen