Teachers’ Response To Students’ Errors In High School Mathematics Classes:A Case Study

With the continuous advancement of the new curriculum reform,an increasing number of mathematics educators have begun to attach importance to generative assessment in classroom interactions.Errors,as an essential resource in students’ mathematical learning process,form the cornerstone of their progress.How teachers respond to students’ errors in the classroom reflects their teaching evaluation ability and even professional qualities.Based on this,this study selects one experiential teacher and one novice teacher as the case study objects,and intends to solve two research questions through the data obtained from classroom observation and interview:(1)What are the characteristics of experiential and novice mathematics teachers’ responses to student errors in high school classrooms? What are their commonalities and differences?(2)What are the characteristics of the resources that experiential and novice mathematics teachers utilize in response to student errors in high school classrooms?What are the commonalities and differences?Regarding the first research question,the study found that experiential and novice mathematics teachers share common characteristics in terms of the timing,content,approach,and emotional attitudes when responding to student errors in the classroom,while also demonstrating differences.For example,both kinds of teachers pay more attention to the responses to conceptual errors,mainly Verbal response and Written response,and the emotions and attitudes shown in the responses to errors are positive.Experiential teachers make more balanced use of response content,while novice teachers make more use of Embedded correction and less use of Ignore Use later.Regarding the second research question,the study found that experiential and novice mathematics teachers’ resources in response to student errors share common characteristics in four aspects: vision and emotion,tendency and habit,knowledge and understanding,and skills and practice.However,differences still exist in the utilization of these resources.For example,these two kinds of teachers both hold a positive attitude towards students’ errors and emphasize student-centered mathematics classes.Experiential teachers arrange activities according to students’ individual characteristics,while novice teachers arrange activities according to lesson plans and preset situations.Experiential teachers have stronger response abilities and can solve students’ confusion through a variety of response methods,with a balance between written and verbal responses.Finally,several points of inspiration and suggestions are put forward for novice teachers to respond to students’ errors in mathematics classes,which can provide help for teachers’ teaching practice and professional development.