High school teachers often encounter incorrect solutions from students, especially when teaching combinatorics. This study investigates the ability of prospective mathematics teachers to assess the correctness of solutions to combinatorial problems and to falsify incorrect ones. 39 second-year prospective teachers participated in the experiment,…

This study was designed to examine the use of mistakes to promote students' performance in undergraduate Algebra classes by developing a growth mindset. Participants were seventy-four students from three Algebra classes and received one of the three interventions along with regular instruction: (a) growth mindset feedback on mistakes…

Problem-solving is the essence of mathematics and is the main goal in learning mathematics. Many students did not have good problem-solving skills based on the field observations. The problems grew up because the students were not used to solving the problems and the problem-solving stages. They did not include issues with high complexity, such as…

To explain children's difficulties learning fraction arithmetic, Braithwaite et al. (2017) proposed FARRA, a theory of fraction arithmetic implemented as a computational model. The present study tested predictions of the theory in a new domain, decimal arithmetic, and investigated children's use of conceptual knowledge in that domain. Sixth and…

This study analyses the potential of a learning analytics (LA) based formative assessment to construct personalised teaching sequences in Mathematics for 5th-grade primary school students. A total of 127 students from Spanish public schools participated in the study. The quasi-experimental study was conducted over the course of six sessions, in…

Students' contributions that are not yet mathematically complete, precise, or correct are crucial for learning through classroom discussions. We aim to support teacher candidates (TCs) to see students' ideas as evidence of sensemaking and to respond in ways that keep student thinking central to the discussion. Although approximations of practice…

The research aimed to analyze the students' abilities in solving realistic mathematics problems using "What-If"-Ethnomathematics Instruments with content focused on plane and space materials. The "What-If"-Ethnomathematics instruments are instruments that enable educators to analyze various errors and obstacles experienced by…

The present study examines the effectiveness of incorporating worked examples with prompts for self-explanation into a middle school math textbook. Algebra 1 students (N = 75) completed an equation-solving unit with textbooks either containing the original practice problems or in which a portion of those problems were converted into a combination…

Problem-solving is one of the 21st-century skills. However, students still have difficulty solving sequences and series word problems. The purpose of this research is to analyze students' errors in solving sequences and series word problems based on problem-solving steps of Polya. The research method is descriptive qualitative. The research…

Despite repeated discussions and practice, algebra students continue to make variable errors, in many ways, year after year. This same problem appeared thirty years ago in a list of common errors that math teachers today would immediately recognize, many involving exponents and distribution (Marquis 1988). Similar complaints even appeared in the…

Background: Poor mathematics performance in South Africa is well known. The COVID-19 pandemic was expected to exacerbate the situation. Aim: To investigate Grade 7 learners' mathematical knowledge at the end of primary school and to compare mathematical performance of Grade 7 and 8 learners in the context of the pandemic. Setting: Data were…

We explore the transition from school to university through a commognitive (Sfard 2008) analysis of twenty-two students' examination scripts from the end of year examination of a first year, year-long module on Sets, Numbers, Proofs and Probability in a UK mathematics department. Our analysis of the scripts relies on a preliminary analysis of the…

Many children fail to master fraction arithmetic even after years of instruction, a failure that hinders their learning of more advanced mathematics as well as their occupational success. To test hypotheses about why children have so many difficulties in this area, we created a computational model of fraction arithmetic learning and presented it…

Even in primary school, mathematics achievement depends upon the efficiency of cognitive, metacognitive and self-regulatory processes. Thus, for pupils to carry out a computation, such as a written calculation, metacognitive mechanisms play a crucial role, since children must employ self-regulation to assess the precision of their own thinking and…

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive study is to investigate why some elementary children have difficulties mastering addition and subtraction calculation tasks. Design/methodology/approach: The researchers have examined error types in addition and subtraction calculation made by 697 Portuguese students in elementary grades. Each student…