Logic for the public good

http://www.alleywatch.com/wp-content/uploads/
2013/03/service-people.jpg

One of my favorite activities in Logic class is a service learning assignment (really!).  I call it the "Logic consultation project," and it requires that students offer their logical analysis skills to another person (preferably outside of class, and not necessarily another college student).  Students read an academic paper, letter to the editor, blog post, business plan, presentation, etc., analyze (or even symbolize) the logical structure, and then make recommendations based on the strength or validity of the argument.  This has to be a service to someone students know, and they're required to actually give the person their analysis.

Of course there are multiple goals of an assignment like this.  Students are required to apply their skills so that I (and they) know that they're able to take what they've learned during the semester and really put it to use in their lives.  I'm also serious about the service component--I do believe that the skills learned in a Logic class should be useful and used for some public good.  We can all benefit from a little logical analysis of our writing, right?  Finally, I hope that this assignment spreads the goodness of Logic around a little--so that other students see the benefits of what we're doing and think about learning some tools on their own or during a future class.

The analyses are really interesting.  Some students went an inductive route and pointed out informal fallacies and problems with the strength of the relationship between premises and conclusions.  Others used their deductive reasoning skills to simplify and symbolize whole papers into categorical syllogisms or truth-functional derivations.  Students who had trouble finding the main argument of a paper or presentation gently let their "clients" know that their arguments needed some clarification and structure.  The end goal is that everyone has a better understanding of the need for clear and careful communication.

See--liberal arts education IS a public good!