By studying Procedural and Logical Thinking, we can use a rational, systematic procedure to arrive at conclusions, examine or build underlying patterns and structures, or deduce further information.

Perspectives

You are playing a video game. For the sake of our story, we will say it is Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (no real spoilers ahead!). On the historic trail of famous pirates, at one point you find yourself in a clock tower with all kinds of cogs, levers, ropes, and bells. At first glance, it is very chaotic and difficult to decide what to do, other than knowing that you likely need to climb up the levels of the tower – no doubt dramatically, in true Nathan Drake fashion. But what is the trick? You can start pressing random levers, which might eventually and accidentally do something that would tell you what to do. Or you can think about the logic of the game.

First, you know your character has a journal that has helped before with other puzzles, so you pull that out. Sure enough, there are the same zodiac symbols you are seeing in the tower, and they are listed in a certain order. Second, now you can climb with a plan, and you systematically visit each symbol in order, skipping over ones you encounter that you will come back to later, and pull the lever on each one until the next path in the game unlocks.

While the chaotic pushing of buttons method might prove successful at some point, it would probably be unnecessarily time-consuming, not to mention frustrating, when you could be moving along to a more interesting part of the game. By thinking logically and following a procedure, the puzzle unfolds itself, allowing you to continue to hunt pirate treasure and fight villains.

Concepts to Consider

Procedural and Logical Thinking skills in other contexts may be more complex than a video game, but the principles are the same. While always focusing on the overarching skills the name implies, Procedural and Logical Thinking can vary in emphasis in different fields.

• In science, it can refer to “investigation design and looking for patterns and relationships” (Roberts, 2001, p. 116) or, in other words, “the knowledge about specific steps in scientific inquiry (e.g. formulating hypotheses, measuring dependent and varying independent variables, repeating measurements), and why they are essential (regarding objectivity, reliability, and validity)” (Arnold, Mühling, & Kremer, 2023, p. 372). (see Scientific Inquiry and Analysis in chapter 5.10)
• In computers and programming, it can be “a set of mental tools that help people break down a difficult problem into smaller subtasks, represent problems, interpret data, compose algorithms that a computer can execute, and take correctness into account when trying to solve a problem” (Veenman, Tolboom, & van Beekum, 2022).
• In mathematics, it can be defined as the “ability to apply procedures efficiently, flexibly, and accurately; to transfer procedures to different problems and contexts; to build or modify procedures from other procedures; and to recognize when one strategy or procedure is more appropriate to apply than another” (“Procedural Fluency in Mathematics”). (see Quantitative Reasoning in chapter 4.2.
• In terms of writing, it can be applied to the writing process and logical flow: “Readers don’t want bumps, unintended surprises or to feel threatened in any way. They don’t want to follow a train of thought, only for it to lead to a dead-end, or for a new idea to be dumped on them without warning. Just because your sentences have a literal stop between them, and a gap between paragraphs, doesn’t mean that readers want stops and gaps in the flow of logical thinking” (“Logical Flow”). (see Writing in chapter 4.5)

Other fields and skills have their own ways of applying Procedural and Logical Thinking skills, depending on what is needed in order to achieve their respective goals.

Procedural and Logical Thinking and Good, Necessary Trouble

The development of COVID vaccines provides us with an excellent example of Procedural and Logical Thinking over a long period of time, and knowing how that process worked is in itself an act of “good, necessary trouble” considering misinformation and disinformation about vaccines (see Information Literacy in chapter 4.1).

The following is a combination taken from both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) timeline “Decades in the Making: mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines” and the Mayo Clinic timeline “COVID-19 and related vaccine development and research”:

• 1961 to 1990 – Scientists discover mRNA and how it can either activate or block protein production in cells. They start to study its use in medicine.
• 1984 – Paul A. Krieg, Ph.D., Douglas A. Melton, Ph.D., Tom Maniatis, Ph.D., and Michael Green, Ph.D. and colleagues at Harvard University use a synthesized RNA enzyme to make biologically active messenger RNA (mRNA) in a lab.
• 1987 – Robert W. Malone, M.D., M.S. mixes mRNA with fat droplets. He discovers that when human cells are added to this mixture, they absorb the mRNA and make proteins. Dr. Malone also finds that frog embryos absorb mRNA. These experiments are considered early steps in the eventual development of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines.
• 1990s – Researchers test mRNA as a treatment in rats and as an influenza and cancer vaccine in mice. [Note: there are ethical concerns with using animals in experiments.]
• Early 2000s – NIH scientists lay the foundation for structure-based vaccine design by finding that the structure of a protein on the surface of the human immunodeficiency virus allows it to enter human cells.
• 2005 – A laboratory breakthrough shows that modified mRNA can safely deliver instructions to cells without over-activating the body’s immune system.
• 2005 to 2016 – Scientists investigate the use of lipids as envelopes to deliver information to the cells of the body. These studies eventually lead to the creation of the lipid nanoparticles used as the outer envelopes for mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
• 2013 – NIH scientists discover the structure of virus proteins that let viruses invade cells. This finding leads scientists to create the first stabilized proteins for use in vaccines that provoke a strong immune response to viruses such as RSV, a major cause of severe disease in infants and older adults.
• 2014 to 2018 – NIH’s response to the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo helps establish pathways to streamline and speed up regulatory review and emergency  use of investigational treatments  during critical disease outbreaks.
• 2016 – By stabilizing the coronavirus “spike protein” that lets HKU1, a form of the common cold, invade cells, NIH scientists are able to better understand coronavirus immunity.
• 2016 – Scientists from NIH and Moderna begin to collaborate on a general vaccine design that uses viral mRNA.
• 2017 – NIH scientists stabilize the spike protein that MERS uses to invade cells, allowing researchers to better understand how to build an effective vaccine against coronaviruses.
• 2017 – Through study of a Zika virus DNA-based vaccine, NIH scientists discover that gene-based vaccines, such as those using mRNA, are safe and effective, paving the way for development of mRNA vaccines.
• 2019 – NIH and Moderna scientists plan for Phase 1 clinical trials to test the safety of mRNA vaccines for Nipah virus; the trials began in 2022.
• December 31, 2019 – The first cluster of people sick with what is now called COVID-19 is reported in Wuhan, China. Global response begins almost right away. The U.S. government comes together with private, non-governmental, and academic organizations to begin work on COVID-19 vaccines.
• January 2020 – Chinese scientists share the first genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 with the NIH database GenBank. Scientists from NIH and Moderna quickly pivot from studies of other viral vaccines to focus on a vaccine candidate for COVID-19, mRNA-1273, to respond to the outbreak. Researchers take what was previously learned from vaccine studies of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and other viruses to develop vaccines that prevent COVID-19. Researchers also study COVID-19 symptoms, long-term effects, diagnostic tests, antibody tests, treatments and drugs.
• March 16, 2020 – NIH clinical trials for the Moderna mRNA vaccine begin.
• April 17, 2020 – NIH launches Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV), a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership for developing COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.
• May 15, 2020 – Operation Warp Speed launches to coordinate federal government efforts that speed up the approval and production of reliable COVID-19 diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments.
• November 16, 2020 – A large-scale Phase 3 clinical trial of the Moderna mRNA vaccine shows promising interim results.
• December 11, 2020  The FDA [the U.S. Food and Drug Adminsitration] grants an emergency use authorization (EUA) to the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine for people age 16 and older.
• December 18, 2020 – The FDA grants an EUA to the Moderna mRNA vaccine for people age 18 and older.
• August 23, 2021 – The FDA grants full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine for people age 16 and older.
• March 14, 2022 – NIH launches Phase 1 clinical trials for three mRNA HIV vaccines. These vaccines apply lessons learned from the development of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19.
• August 31, 2022 – The FDA grants an EUA of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines to authorize bivalent formulations for use as a booster dose. These updated boosters contain mRNA components for both the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and its Omicron variant.

What this (incomplete) timeline reveals is the procedural and logical process the development of the COVID vaccines underwent. Rather than springing out of nowhere, they are the product of a complex process of experimentation (see Scientific Inquiry and Analysis in chapter 5.9) and logical application over decades.

Discussion 5.8

• If you have already taken a course with a primary focus on Procedural and Logical Thinking, think about what you were asked to do and what you learned. If you have not already taken a Procedural and Logical Thinking course, think about the types of courses you could take.
• In what ways did or might the idea(s) or example(s) discussed above apply in such a course?
• What other ideas or examples would you add to the discussion?