misconceptions

621 Words2 Pages

Nearly all of our students make mathematical mistakes, often logical mistakes based on common misunderstandings. Teachers should use mistakes or confusion as teachable moments. These are valuable learning/opportunities. Anticipating misconceptions while planning and creating activities will help elevate some of these issues with students.
Mathematics tends to be a confusing subject. This confusion can alter and undermine learning in a very serious way. First of all, it is natural for students of all ages to try to find the easiest or shortest route to the answer. In math this tends to be dangerous as there are typically many steps in solving math problems.
For example, a teacher may instruct the class to write the number two three times and add. 2+2+2=6. The student may write out the number three two times instead. 3+3=6. The answers are the same. However, the misconception is in the strategy which can become a problem later.
The student believes they accomplished the task correctly. However, if the teacher does not catch this early on, this could be a recipe for disas...

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