Hi:
There is a Colloquium today in MSCS 101 (the big room on the first floor)
at 3:30 PM: Refreshments at 4:30 in the lounge.
Speaker Paul Dawkins, Texas State University
Title: A Research-based approach to the teaching and learning
of logic for the purposes of learning mathematical proving
Abstract below:
Hope to see you there
David Wright
Abstract: Based on eight years of teaching experiments both in laboratory
and whole-class settings, we (Dr. Kyeong Hah Roh and I) have developed a
novel approach to teaching logic for introduction to proof courses. We
proceed from constructing property-based set relationships, to a theory
of statements rooted in set-theory, to basic proof structures (direct,
contrapositive, and biconditional). By focusing on sets throughout, we
maintain students’ fundamental intuition that statements and proofs refer
to objects, not to mere truth values. By comparing and contrasting
statements and proofs, we build the logical structures on students’
existing reading competencies. By always beginning with sets of objects
unified by some property, we support students in connecting logic and
proof to mathematical inferences. While the theory we develop is
compatible with the standard theory of logic in most introduction to proof
textbooks, we argue that these unique features of our instructional
sequence allow us to build on students’ existing ways of reasoning and to
connect logic more directly to the proof-based activities they exist to
support. (Note: This research was funded by NSF DUE #1954613 and
#1954768.)
