Who Benefits From a Foundational Logic Course? Effects on Undergraduate Course Performance

AbstractBeing able to understand and evaluate arguments in different modalities and in different disciplines is thought to be a key component of students’ academic success in college. However, many students do not receive explicit instruction in the basic concepts and rules of argumentation. Using a difference-in-differences approach with a multicohort longitudinal data set of almost 15,000 undergraduates beginning in health and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related fields at a research university, we examined changes in relative performance of students after enrolling in an introductory logic course. We find that students improved their grade point average (GPA) after taking the course, especially if they begin college with low academic achievement (Cohen’s d = 0.18). Our results are consistent with the idea that acquiring foundational skills, in particular general skills in argumentation, prepares STEM students for future learning.