It’s not a waste of time to theorize deeply about

student mistakes.

In fact, I think it will enrich your teaching, and you should give it a shot.Michael Pershan

mathmistakes.org

Why do students tend to do this?

What makes this mistake tempting?

What other mistakes are similar to this one?

How can you help this student?

How would you react?

Why is this student making this mistake?

What does this student know?

Why do kids tend to make this mistake?

What other mistakes are like this one?

What makes this mistake tempting?

It’s not a waste of time to theorize deeply about

student mistakes.

In fact, I think it will enrich your teaching, and you should give it a shot.Michael Pershan

mathmistakes.org

10012=50

"Most kids just try to cram in the fact that negative exponents do ummm, something to the base. Without some conceptual hangar to place this fact they are left wildly guessing. “

"But really, as much as I try not to write these off to “autopilot”, I can’t think of any other explanation.“

"I think that this idea is attractive because many students think that raising a number to a power is the same as multiplying the base by the power as in “4^2 = 8.″

𝟒×𝟏𝟎−𝟑𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬

It’s not a waste of time to theorize deeply about

student mistakes.

In fact, I think it will enrich your teaching, and you should give it a shot.

Try a hard problem on your own, then reflect on how you mess up. Or do a confidence poll with your students. And

write a post if you notice something cool.