# Mixing Backward- with Forward-Chaining for Metacognitive Skill Acquisition and Transfer

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12223 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12223/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 1 of its 17 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 18 Mar 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Metacognition and Motivation: The Role of Time-Awareness in Preparation for Future Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.13541/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Leveraging Deep Reinforcement Learning for Metacognitive Interventions across Intelligent Tutoring Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.09821/) (2023)
- [Aligning Tutor Discourse Supporting Rigorous Thinking with Tutee Content Mastery for Predicting Math Achievement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.06218/) (2024)
- [Bridging Declarative, Procedural, and Conditional Metacognitive Knowledge Gap Using Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.11739/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Metacognitive skills have been commonly associated with preparation for future learning in deductive domains. Many researchers have regarded strategy- and time-awareness as two metacognitive skills that address how and when to use a problem-solving strategy, respectively. It was shown that students who are both strategy-and time-aware (StrTime) outperformed their nonStrTime peers across deductive domains. In this work, students were trained on a logic tutor that supports a default forward-chaining (FC) and a backward-chaining (BC) strategy. We investigated the impact of mixing BC with FC on teaching strategy- and time-awareness for nonStrTime students. During the logic instruction, the experimental students (Exp) were provided with two BC worked examples and some problems in BC to practice how and when to use BC. Meanwhile, their control (Ctrl) and StrTime peers received no such intervention. Six weeks later, all students went through a probability tutor that only supports BC to evaluate whether the acquired metacognitive skills are transferred from logic. Our results show that on both tutors, Exp outperformed Ctrl and caught up with StrTime.