A Comparison of Sentential Logic Skills: Are Teachers Sufficiently Prepared to Teach Logic?

A sentential logic test consisting of 30 items was administered to advanced 7th grade, 8th grade, and 12th grade students and preservice secondary mathematics teachers in 1986 and 1992. The resulting data were compared with data obtained in a similar study conducted in 1976. An examination of the changes in scores by age level according to item type and semantic form was made over the three data collection periods. The results indicate that the impact of maturation and/or education has decreased in its effect on the development of logic skills. Concern is raised over preservice teachers' level of understanding of sentential logic.