The teaching of symbolic logic in a classroom, like the teaching of math, can end up being reduced to a mechanism for distinguishing students who are “good at it” from those who are not. However, this situation is ultimately frustrating both for the students and for the motivated teacher of logic who believes that the study of logic has something to offer every student.

As a teacher of a symbolic logic class that is both (1) required of all philosophy majors and (2) one selected by students of all majors as a part of GE requirements, I have had the opportunity to work with students of many different skills. What I have found is that, though difficult, it is possible to do more than just cull out the quantitatively practiced from a group of students of different skill level and interest. This method makes use of some of the new technologies to provide easy access and instant feedback for students, while still emphasizing the classroom experience. In particular, it makes use of Web Pages and the use of Computer Projectors in the classroom, which allow the professor to adjust the material to the skill level and challenges presented by a certain class.

I argue that it is not only desirable but very possible to teach symbolic logic in such a way as to make it accessible to students who are not quantitatively motivated or skilled, while keeping more logically talented students challenged and satisfied. In this paper I describe five main strategies to achieve these goals.

The first part of the overall strategy entails motivating the students, no matter what their majors, into seeing the usefulness of logic to them. The second part is to show how the concepts, principles and skills of logic are mostly an elaboration on intuitions and skills the students already employ frequently. (To do this the professor should make use of many real-life pertinent examples.) A third part is to give all students confidence in their ability to become proficient in at least one aspect of symbolic logic. A fourth part is to create a classroom environment in which student questions are encouraged and welcomed. Finally, the professor must make use of discussion during class, the results of assessment, and interactions in office hours and student email to discover student skill levels, typical struggles, and what kinds of introductions and explanations are most useful, as well as what concepts should be emphasized early on. The professor can use Website postings containing explanatory notes addressing particular difficulties, along with problem sets to reinforce and evaluate class room learning. He/she can also use software to quickly modify lectures for easy projection in the classroom.

Using these strategies results in a class that is interesting, challenging, both for those adept at logic and those who are not. This class also teaches students about themselves and reinforces their confidence in their native talents and ability to learn through asking questions and being persistent in applying themselves.