Basic logical operation skills and logical reasoning competences of university students in a Western region of Romania

Abstract

Empirical research results show that the system of logical operations and conclusion schemes does not become complete even in adulthood. Although we know other logical models besides the classical two-valued logical reasoning model, in higher education for students it is essential to know and apply the rules of the classical reasoning model. Proofs, reasoning and refutation are necessary in the case of several subjects, as scientific language uses many of logical operations. Our 2022 end-of-year research measured general logical basic-knowledge and operations in everyday life, mathematical, physical, chemical and biological contexts based on 246 university students’ online testing. The students completed the tasks which required the correct conclusion in the highest proportion (69.02%), followed by the interpretation of ‘at most’/‘at least’ (63.41%), and at least the negation (the negation of the ‘at least’, of ‘exists’ and of ‘for all’) (29.91%). Our results show that the correct interpretation did not become dominant in the case of all logical operations for these students. The everyday life problems were solved correctly by the highest percentage of students (70.05%), followed by problems in biological, physical and mathematical context. They were least successful (28.04%) in solving logical problems related to chemistry. This shows that our data cannot be analyzed without semantic content. Based on different statistical tests, we did not find a significant difference in performance between genders, but according to the human capital theory students of more highly educated mothers performed significantly better.