Computer Science Undergraduates Learning Logic Using a Proof Editor: Work in Progress

Computer science undergraduates can experience certain difficulties in employing formal reasoning methods (Fung & O’Shea, 1992; Fung et al, 1993; 1996). Although the role of visualisation in assisting the reasoning process in abstract situations appears to be complex (Cox, Stenning & Oberlander, 1995; Cox & Brna, 1995), it is clear that there are software tools such as Tarski’s World (Barwise & Etchemendy, 1992) that are considered by students to be not only useful for learning the syntax and semantics of first order logic but also enjoyable (Fung et al, 1994). However, the extent to which visualisation tools can assist the learning of heuristics for constructing proofs is uncertain.