Background/purpose: Investigation into the misconceptions of preschool students in mathematics and their differences between the ages of 4-5 and 5-6 years old helps form appropriate developmental mathematics teaching programs. However, although several studies have been conducted examining preschoolers' previous knowledge and misconceptions about…

Students' difficulties in algebra are generally caused by the use of algebraic notation, the meaning of letters, as well as the types of relationships or methods used. Therefore, interpreting letters in algebra is one of the critical points in the transition from arithmetic to algebra. However, many students have misconceptions in interpreting…

The aim of this research is to determine the misconceptions among 6th, 7th and 8th grade students about the order of operations in line with arithmetic expressions and posing and solving problems related to arithmetic expressions. The research has a mixed-method research design with concurrent-triangulation design. The study group for the research…

This study is aimed at exploring how different formulations of the same mathematical item may influence students' answers, and whether or not boys and girls are equally affected by differences in presentation. An experimental design was employed: the same stem-items (i.e., items with the same mathematical content and question intent) were…

The present study focused on the lack of knowledge of the double use of brackets in arithmetic expressions and the difficulty in the operatively of expression for mathematics application at the school level. Learning the other rules and formulas of mathematics involves learning the use of a bracket. Binding is useful in both arithmetic and…

This study reports errors and misconceptions about division operation in fractions made by eighth-grade students. To investigate these errors and misconceptions, the study examined students' understanding of division operation in fractions using a questionnaire and expectation table. Students' misconceptions were determined for each question and…

The paper describes one problem solving strategy -- the Use of false assumption. The objective of the paper is to show, in accordance with Phylogenesis and Ontogenesis Theory, that it is worthwhile to reiterate the process of development of the concept of a variable and thus provide to pupils one of the ways helping them to eliminate usual…

Currently Australian pre-service teachers' levels of personal numeracy are under a great deal of scrutiny. There are calls for universities to raise entry standards into teaching degrees and counter-calls that the output of universities should be gauged rather than inputs. In 2015, doubts about the ability of graduate teachers to convey the…

In this article, John West explores student misconceptions relating to division. A range of activities that promote the understanding of divisibility rules are provided.

In online educational systems we can easily collect and analyze extensive data about student learning. Current practice, however, focuses only on some aspects of these data, particularly on correctness of students answers. When a student answers incorrectly, the submitted wrong answer can give us valuable information. We provide an overview of…

Mathematics educators have had a long standing interest in students' understanding of decimal numbers. Most studies of students' understanding of decimals have been conducted within Western cultural settings. Similar research in other countries is important for a number of reasons, perhaps most importantly because it can provide insights that may…

This study sought to review literature pertinent to difficulties encountered by students in the learning and usage of mathematical terminology. The need to carry out this study arose from the concern by the Kenya National Examinations Council, and the general public, over the poor annual results in mathematics. Therefore, the objective of this…

The aim of this study was to examine the concept development of decimal numbers in 244 Chinese elementary students in grades 4-6. Three grades of students differed in their intuitive sense of decimals and conceptual understanding of decimals, with more strategic approaches used by older students. Misconceptions regarding the density nature of…

Studies reveal that students as well as teachers have difficulties in understanding and learning of decimals. The purpose of this study is to investigate students' as well as pre-service teachers' solution strategies when solving a question that involves an estimation task for the value of a decimal number on the number line. We also examined the…

This guidance report focuses on the teaching of mathematics to pupils in Key Stages 2 and 3. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive guide to mathematics teaching. We have made recommendations where there are research findings that schools can use to make a significant difference to pupils' learning, and have focused on the questions that…