Chess training effect on meta-cognitive processes and academic performance

The aim of this study is to examine, in an educational context, the influence of chess training on academic performance (written text comprehension and recall and mathematical problem-solving ability) and on meta-cognitive skills (approach to studying and study strategies availability). A sample of 85 children attending primary school participated in the study: 48 children in the experimental group and 37 in the control group. The experimental group took part to a chess training (a 30-hour chess program) during school hours; the control group carried out a sport program. The results show that after the chess training, the two groups did not differ in their approach to studying, in their use of more or less functional study strategies, and in their written text recall and comprehension ability; instead, a significant difference emerged between the two groups in mathematical problem solving: The experimental group children showed a greater ability to represent a math problem and to categorize it than the control children. The results will be discussed in light of the debate about the transfer of specific domain skills to general domain skills.