TTA Needs Assessment Materials

Diagnostic feedback

Errors and misconceptions in number

Task 1a
The errors in this part of the task may be a result of teaching methods of calculation without ensuring children have sufficient understanding of the processes involved. i) A zero has been placed at the end of the whole number part of the number and the decimal part of the number has been left alone. Even if the child checks the answer to see if it is reasonable, it looks about right. A zero has been placed at the end of the number. When the child checks the answer it may seem reasonable because the number has been made longer (and this, they believe, makes the number bigger).

ii)

Both of these mistakes are probably due to having learnt when you multiply by ten add a nought, which is only true for whole numbers. The difficulty with this rule is that it allows children to be successful for a long time, as decimals tend to be introduced much later. When we teach rules for calculations, it is important to emphasise the situations in which they work, and in which they do not work, and to teach a strategy for checking whether the answers make sense. Children need to be taught to observe the effect on the digits when multiplying by ten, representing different values as they do so, and to recognise the decimal point as a fixed point, which is between the units and the tenths. In this way they will develop a greater understanding of the place value system we use.

Task 1b
i) The child has added the units to make 11, which has not been interpreted as one ten and one unit. Consequently, 11 units have been recorded, making the answer inconsistent with the original sum. The child has added the units to make 14 but only recorded the units. The child has added the units to make 13 but reversed the units and tens, interpreting the number as three tens and one unit. This error may arise because of the way 13 is spoken. (Thirteen or three-ten meaning three units and one ten whereas most numbers are spoken in the order the digits are written such as forty three meaning four tens and three units.)

ii) iii)

TTA Needs Assessment Materials

Diagnostic feedback

Errors and misconceptions in number (continued)

This group of mistakes shows a lack of understanding of place value. Children may have been taught a rule without fully understanding how or why it works and have only partly remembered what to do. Children need to be encouraged to think about what the calculation actually requires them to do and the reasonableness of their answers. All of these calculations could have been tackled mentally, e.g. i) 432+29 =432+30 1 =461 538+46 =540+44 =584 57+96 =50+7+100 4 =150+7 - 4 =153

ii)

iii)

Task 1c
i) The child has used the digit one from the thousands column but has failed to understand place value and interpreted this as ten. This often results from learning a method without understanding the reason. It is not appropriate to use the decomposition method for this calculation; a mental method would be far more suitable. Children often fail to consider the best way of tackling a calculation if it is presented in a way which implies a specific method (i.e. by writing this calculation vertically children feel compelled to attempt it using the method of decomposition). The subtraction of the unit digits has been reversed. This may result from the child saying two take away six you cant do and finding a solution by reversing the digits. This is a sum that would be better done mentally, and the answer could be easily checked by adding the answer obtained to 26. The use of inverse operations to check answers is a strategy that can be taught from an early age, e.g. 532 - 326 =500 300 +(32-26) =200 + 6

ii)

TTA Needs Assessment Materials

Diagnostic feedback

Errors and misconceptions in number (continued)

If equipment is used it should be to re-enforce the method being used. It is important that when equipment is used it offers a representation of the operation i.e. subtraction, rather than concentrating on the numbers particular to the question. For example, when teaching subtraction, the following practical method would be appropriate. To show 23 - 11=12 Represent 23 as

Then remove 11 from the group explaining that this represents subtraction.

So 23 - 11=12

Task 1d
i) The child has used a method for multiplication without understanding and has multiplied by two instead of 20. There is no appreciation of the order of magnitude of the answer, i.e. 20 x 30=600. In this example the child has multiplied the unit digits together, followed by the tens digits but has not recognised the place value. Rules have been partly remembered but misapplied. Again there appears to be no recognition that this answer is far too small.

ii)

These errors suggest that the child has not thought about the calculation, and consequently fails to recognise an answer that is wrong. It is important that children have strategies for checking their work in arithmetic by using estimation and have the understanding of number needed to use efficient methods of calculation. Suitable estimates for these calculations might have been: i) 30 x 25=750 ii) 60 x 30=1 800

Task 1e
i) The child has lined up the digits without taking account of place value and the decimal point. This may be a mis-copy, or a lack of understanding of place
3

TTA Needs Assessment Materials

Diagnostic feedback

ii)

iii)

iv)

value, or it may arise because the child believes that numbers in a vertical calculation must be lined up from the right. This is a common error when rounding whole numbers or decimals. The child has first rounded to 4 480, then to 4 500, then to 5 000 instead of looking at the entire number and seeing that 4 478 is below 4 500 and closer to 4 000. A number line is a useful tool for rounding numbers. Calculators display large numbers differently. When the number is too big for the display some display error. Others change the number into standard form (i.e. one digit before the decimal point multiplied by the appropriate power of ten), with the power of ten on the right-hand side. The correct answer should 8 be 112 000 000 or 1.12 x 10 . Multiplying and dividing by three are inverse operations, so the answer should be 1. This error is likely to arise when a calculator is used. Some calculators are unable to retain sufficient accuracy to ensure that the correct answer is obtained. Children need to be encouraged to interpret calculator results with care.

Although all the errors in this group have been arrived at in different ways, they involve questions where children need to consider carefully the size of the numbers and the best ways of dealing with them. Indeed a mental method would be appropriate in many of the examples. Teachers need to encourage children to estimate what the answer will be before doing a calculation.

Task 1f
i) A common error when operating on fractions. The child has added the numerators and then the denominators, but shows no understanding of the meaning of a fraction. The denominators have been multiplied together and the numerators added. This could result either from confusion between multiplying and adding fractions or, when attempting to create equivalent fractions, the child has only dealt with the denominators.

ii)

Children need plenty of practice adding fractions with the same denominator before moving on to using equivalence to add fractions with different denominators. Teaching multiplication and addition of fractions at the same time must be done with great care in order to avoid the confusion demonstrated by these types of errors.

TTA Needs Assessment Materials

Diagnostic feedback

Errors and misconceptions in number (continued)

Task 1g
i) The child has reversed the digits and divided five by three. This could have resulted from saying, five into three wont go, which is a phrase you often hear when teachers and children are doing long division. Some of the most frequent arithmetical errors are made by children reversing the order of subtraction and division to make calculations easier to perform. One problem associated with using a calculator is interpreting the display correctly. In this answer, 6.75 has been interpreted as 6 remainder 75. Children need to recognise that in this case the remainder cannot be more than 3 as the division is by 4. Working out the remainder in this case requires the child to multiply 4 by 6 and subtract the answer from 27, or to recognise that the 0.75 means 0.75 of 4, i.e. 3.

ii)

Children often find division difficult because the language is so varied: share among, divide by, how many. The form of the answer normally depends on the context so that remainders may be given for objects that cannot be split up (like people) and fractions or decimals when they can (like cakes). Children need to be given problems to interpret and make sense of as well as numerical examples.

Task 1h
This may result from remembering that two minuses make a plus, is true when negatives are multiplied. When a negative number is subtracted, this is equivalent to adding a positive number, e.g.: -5 x -6=30 5- (-6)=5+6=11

Task 1. Errors and misconceptions in number expertise profile Please record your degree of expertise and confidence in the table below. Parts Identify pupils errors and misconceptions with: addition and subtraction - whole numbers - fractions - negative numbers b, c f h a, d, g e 1 2 3 4

multiplication and division of whole numbers using knowledge of place value