Adding a dimension to logic diagramming

Abstract

A blind learner needs some method other than Venn diagrams to test syllogisms for validity. I present here a sketch of a three-dimensional apparatus, Sylloid, invented to fill this need and to inculcate deep learning rather than the mere ability to get answers right. What one learns in the design process is then used in designing a successor, Son of Sylloid, for sighted users that is pedagogically superior to Venn diagrams. This dog-legged approach to materials design is of wide application: first design apparatus for a user, real or imagined, weak in one or more of Howard Gardner's 'intelligences', then create a successor design for the non-deficient. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.