Logic training through algorithmic problem solving

• Autor(es): Ferreira, João Fernando ; Mendes, Alexandra ; Cunha, Alcino ; Baquero, Carlos ; Silva, Paulo ; Barbosa, L. S. ; Oliveira, José Nuno Fonseca
• Data: 2011
• Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/15270
• Origem: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Assunto(s): Equational logic; Calculational method; Problem solving; Algorithm derivation
• Tipo de Documento: Artigo
• Idioma: Inglês

Descrição

Available for individual study only. 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 preuniversity 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.