Date of Award

5-2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School

College of Science and Mathematics

Department/Program

Mathematical Sciences

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Mika Munakata

Committee Member

Michael Jones

Committee Member

Anthony Piccolino

Abstract

High school students often struggle with the concept of logical reasoning. A study conducted with 37 ninth grade geometry students involved a teaching experiment. This study documented whether instruction on a logic game called the Color of the Board Game helped students’ logical reasoning skills, and if those skills could be reflected in a “‘pencil and paper” test. Each student in a control and treatment group received a pre-test with 25 multiple-choice logic questions and an open-ended question. Multiple-choice questions were based on geometry and contextual logic. The treatment group received the Color of the Board Instructional Unit between the pre- and post-tests. Interviews were conducted with both groups to determine students’ strategies, views of the game, and to determine students’ views of the geometry versus the logic problems.

No significant gain was found on the multiple choice survey, though some gain was found on the open-ended question. In general, students found the contextual logic questions more challenging than the geometry questions. Interviews suggested that this is due to the open-ended nature of the “real-life” examples on those questions. The interviews also revealed that students did benefit from the game with several saying that it improved their ability to think logically. The results of this study may be of interest to high school mathematics teachers who are looking for a way to introduce formal logic to their students. Results also indicate that further study is needed to find creative, appropriate methods of teaching logic to students.

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