## Logic Training through Algorithmic Problem Solving

Authors

João F. Ferreira, Alexandra Mendes, Alcino Cunha, Carlos Baquero, Paulo Silva, Luis Soares Barbosa and J. N. Oliveira

Status

Published and presented at the Third International Congress on Tools for Teaching Logic (TICTTL'11) in June 2011.

Abstract

Although much of mathematics is algorithmic in nature, the skills needed to formulate and solve algorithmic problems do not form an integral part of mathematics education. In particular, logic, which is central to algorithm development, is rarely taught explicitly at pre-university level, under the justification that it is implicit in mathematics and therefore does not need to be taught as an independent topic. This paper argues in the opposite direction, describing a one-week workshop done at the University of Minho, in Portugal, whose goal was to introduce to high-school students calculational principles and techniques of algorithmic problem solving supported by calculational logic. The workshop resorted to recreational problems to convey the principles and to software tools, the Alloy Analyzer and Netlogo, to animate models.

Keywords

equational logic, calculational method, problem solving, algorithm derivation, teaching logic

Bibtex entry
@inproceedings{jff*11:logic-aps,
author    = {Jo{\~a}o F. Ferreira and
Alexandra Mendes and
Alcino Cunha and
Carlos Baquero and
Paulo Silva and
Lu\'{\i}s Soares Barbosa and
J. N. Oliveira},
title     = {Logic Training through Algorithmic Problem Solving},
booktitle = {TICTTL},
year      = {2011},
pages     = {62-69},
url       = {http://joaoff.com/publications/2011/logic-aps}
}

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History
• 18 September 2011 — uploaded the paper