As soon as the seven-week class began, students realized the course was not what they expected. This comic book is not full of super heroes chasing villains, or action scenes full of SPLAT or KABOOM dialogue boxes.

“Logicomix” (Bloomsbury, 2009) is more of a graphic novel that tells the story of logic and the revolutionary history behind it. “It’s an interesting way to tell the story. Students get to learn about the historical context in which the mathematics and computer science they are studying came about,” says Cervesato.

Although “Logicomix” was not designed as a textbook for a university course, when Cervesato found the best seller, he knew it would be an innovative way to teach first-year computer science students the principles of the field they are studying.

In addition to teaching elementary logic, Cervesato felt the book could serve as the backbone of his course. The comics would provide an engaging way for students to learn how to perform research and give presentations. And the theories presented in the book would prepare the first-year students to thrive in the rigorous CS curriculum.

“Logicomix” is an interesting mix of three stories. In one layer, the authors and designers are talking and arguing points of logic as they write the book. A second layer features the story of Bertrand Russell, a pioneer in the field of logic, giving a lecture on logic at the beginning of World War II. A third layer threads the story of Russell’s personal and professional life and how they relate to the foundations of logic as we know it today. The three stories together give a rich and diverse look at logic as told through a beautifully illustrated book.

First-year student Sidra Alam took the class to learn about logic and to be better prepared for higher-level CS courses including Great Theoretical Ideas, which is a cornerstone CS class. “I am so glad I took this course. It really opens up your thinking capabilities. The book explained logic in a way that was easy to understand. I’ve even used what I learned in this course to build arguments on projects and do presentations in other courses,” says Alam.

So why is logic important for CS majors? Computer science is about understanding complex processes and getting computers to do them. Logic sits right in the middle. “If you think logically, you will be able to master those two things. Without logic, students would know the ‘how’ without knowing the ‘why,’” says Cervesato.

Meaning that, if a student was faced with a problem that fit squarely into what he or she knew, it would be solvable. If it were a new problem, the student wouldn’t know what to do. Logic teaches students to gain awareness for the reasons they are doing things.

Cervesato recognized that many students in Qatar did not have a lot of practice with logical thinking. Traditional ways of teaching logic can, as Cervesato says, “bore students out of their minds.” By building a class around this particular book, Cervesato found new ways to engage students in logical thinking and understand how to craft arguments and theories using these sound principles.