Dewan, Hridaykant
(2018)
Interpretation of errors in arithmetic.
At Right Angles, 7 (3).
pp. 48-52.
ISSN 2582-1873
Abstract
Errors are often referred to as windows into the minds of
learners and also as part of the ladder of learning. The effort
to look at the work of the learner and attempting to construct
the conceptual and procedural underpinning of the responseexpressions
of the child provides many insights. This analysis can also
be useful in mathematics as it points out the care the teacher may
take in conversing with learners as it may offer many learnings and
takeaways for the teacher. It has been spelt out sufficiently well that
the work of children has to be considered far more carefully than
merely sorting into the categories of right and wrong. The manner in
which the learner has reached the answer provides insights about the
way she thinks and approaches the question. Many times, the answer
being correct does not imply that the problem has been tackled
appropriately. The correct answer could well be a consequence of
fortuitous mistakes and coincidences. In an article ‘Errors or ladders
of learning’ many years ago, Agnihotri1 suggested that errors could
be the steps in the ladders of learning and indicate the path through
which the journey of learning could take place. This has indeed been
stated and argued before and after by many persons. In the learning
of language there are many examples of this and some of them are
relatively better understood. For example, there is the phenomenon
of over generalisation in responding to exceptions to the rules. The
simplest example is of ‘go’ and ‘goed’ or the example in Hindi of
saying टूटाना for तोडना. The formulation presented to the child, 'इस
िगलास को मत तोडना' became 'इस िगलास को मत टूटाना. The implied
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