Logic List Mailing Archive

Questionnaire on university teaching of "Introduction to Logic"

Dear Colleagues:

With Christian Schunn, a colleague from the University of Pittsburgh,  and 
his student Melissa Nelson, I am trying to get a perspective on what is 
being taught in a "typical" Introduction to Modern Logic.

Such a course should include a precise discussion of the syntax and 
semantics of sentential and predicate logic (with identity), and some 
method for "proving" statements, e.g., via analytic tableaux or natural 
deduction arguments. One question is, which (if any) metamathematical 
issues are addressed; I am thinking, for example, of normal form theorems, 
truth-functional completeness, semantic completeness.  We are most deeply 
interested in how the course is taught and whether technological tools are 
used.

This is part of a larger project investigating the effectiveness of 
different ways of teaching such a course; thus, our study should be of 
broad interest to the logical community.

Our survey is a first important step in this process; you can access it at
http://logic.lrdc.pitt.edu/
I expect that it should take you between 5 and 10 minutes to complete it. 
If you have any question, please feel free to contact me at sieg@cmu.edu.

Cordially,

Wilfried Sieg
Carnegie Mellon University