This study illustrates how two secondary mathematics teachers used students' incorrect answers as they supported students' engagement in collective argumentation. Three ways of supporting argumentation when students contributed incorrect answers are exemplified, and the structures of these arguments are investigated. Then, by focusing on the…

This paper reports on concept images of 38 secondary school mathematics prospective teachers, regarding the evenness of numbers. Written assignments, individual interviews, and lesson transcripts uncover salient, erroneous concept images of even numbers as numbers that are two times "something" (i.e., "2i" is an even number),…

Quadratic equations are a notorious topic for the challenge it provides to students in secondary mathematics. Despite this, there is limited research, particularly in the Australian context, that explains why such challenges persist. This article details the causes of Year 11 students' difficulties in solving quadratic equations. Observing…

Constructing formal geometry proofs in is an important topic in the mathematics curriculum. But students' difficulties with proof are well documented. This article focuses on proofs that use triangle congruence postulates in US high school geometry. Examining students' proof reasoning in one-on-one task-based interviews, we analyzed students' oral…

This paper presents an analysis of how school mathematics credentials, particularly calculus, coupled with elite college degrees can allow for presumed proficiencies, resulting in acceptance to a selective alternative route program (SARP) for secondary mathematics. However, such credentials do not guarantee deep mathematics knowledge nor effective…

This research aimed to determine the difficulties that the students experience in inequality solutions that contain inequality in general and rational (proportional) expressions, and to solve these difficulties with an activity. Totally 108 students, who were enrolled in the Department of Mathematics and Science Education, consisted respectively…

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…

To improve students' mathematics achievement, their errors should be treated as an opportunity to stimulate conceptual and procedural understanding. Using a teaching scenario, this study investigated 40 high school teachers' analyses of and responses to a student error(s) in solving a quadratic equation by using the factoring method. The teachers'…

The present study explored 285 11th-grade students' preconceptions, misconceptions, and errors in solving mathematics tasks by graphical method. A descriptive-explorative study design was adopted. Cluster sampling was used to select students from sampled secondary schools in eastern and central Uganda. Students' paper and pen solution sketches…

Conceptual understanding is one of the main concerns of mathematics education. Numerous research have discussed student understanding of algebraic concepts, linear equations in particular. This research was drawn upon in order to develop a new approach for teaching and learning linear equations based on the equivalence concept, one that aims to…

Mistakes can be a source of frustration for teachers and students in mathematics classrooms because they reveal potential misunderstandings or a lack of learning. However, increasing evidence shows that making mistakes creates productive pathways for learning new ideas and building new concepts (Boaler 2016; Borasi 1996). Learning through…

In this article, we present the results of a research study that explores secondary students' capacity to perform translations of algebraic statements between the verbal and symbolic representation systems through the lens of errors. We classify and compare the errors made by 2 groups of students: 1 at the beginning of their studies in school…

This paper presents an analysis of fractions errors displayed by learners due to deficient mastery of prerequisite concepts. Fractions continue to pose a critical challenge for learners. Fractions can be a tricky concept for learners although they often use the concept of sharing in their daily lives. 30 purposefully sampled learners participated…

Approximations of practice provide opportunities for teacher candidates (TCs) to engage in the work of teaching in situations of reduced complexity. A problem of practice for teacher educators relates to how to represent student voice in approximations to engage TCs with interactive practices in meaningful ways. In this article, we share an…

As algebra teachers, the authors explore the following question in this article: "How can algebra 1, algebra 2, and precalculus teachers support students to develop algebraic reasoning and understanding of structure that can serve them in day-to-day algebraic computation?" The article shows how the algebraic identity "(a +…