It's certainly worth a try! Not a bad research project - manageable in scope, with pretty clear lines of reasoning, etc. But if I had to guess, I'd say it won't work. There's a long history (going back to Thorndike & Woodworth 115 years ago!) of research showing that transfer of skills from one domain to another tends to be very limited.

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Thorndike/Transfer/transfer1.htm

Yes, according to these studies in RG:

https://www.researchgate.net/search.Search.html?type=publication&query=Could%20n-back%20training%20in%20school%20curricula%20improve%20deductive%20reasoning&tabViewId=5851760cb0366d06172458fd&previous=researcher

Many thanks,

Debra

I agree with Stephen Joy.  Overall, research has been pretty clear in that the further you separate a practice task from the format and content in which you wish to affect, the less likely the task will improve achievement.  Thus, if the n-back task bears little resemblance to the skill you wish to improve, it is unlikely it will have an affect.  I suggest checking out some of the recent reviews and meta-analyses that have been conducted on the effects of working memory training on academic skills, which I've listed below.  Also check out some recent work by Doug Fuchs at Vanderbilt, who is studying working memory training using tasks that are much more closely connected and relevant to the academic skill being targeted, in which he is finding some evidence of transfer.

Melby-Lervåg, M., Redick, T. S., & Hulme, C. (2016). Working memory training does not improve performance on measures of intelligence or other measures of “far transfer”: Evidence from a meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(4), 512.

Melby-Lervåg, M., & Hulme, C. (2013). Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review. Developmental psychology, 49(2), 270.

Shipstead, Z., Redick, T. S., & Engle, R. W. (2012). Is working memory training effective?. Psychological Bulletin, 138(4), 628.

Hitchcock, C., & Westwell, M. S. (2016). A cluster‐randomised, controlled trial of the impact of Cogmed Working Memory Training on both academic performance and regulation of social, emotional and behavioural challenges. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Shipstead, Z., Hicks, K. L., & Engle, R. W. (2012). Cogmed working memory training: Does the evidence support the claims?. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1(3), 185-193.