Error Patterns in Turkish Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Arithmetic Operations in Power Numbers

Sevim Sevgi^1,

¹Mathematics and Science Education Department, Faculty of Education, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

Cite this paper:
Sevim Sevgi. Error Patterns in Turkish Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Arithmetic Operations in Power Numbers. American Journal of Educational Research. 2018; 6(12):1719-1725. doi: 10.12691/education-6-12-20

Abstract

This study investigated the pre-service elementary teachers understanding of exponent and how they solve the exponents equations and their different solving techniques and errors. Advanced mathematics automatically develops an understanding of basics of mathematics which is enough to explain and justify the reasonings of basic of arithmetic operations. The sample of the study is seventy-nine first year pre-service elementary teachers at the university of Turkey. Two items solved in detail. Content analysis of these two item solutions were analyzed for pre-service elementary teachers understanding of mathematics and their error patterns. Majority of them solved the items by well know strategies at the books but some of them made basic computation errors. They could not apply the basic exponents rules to solutions. Elementary teachers should learn the basic of rules without computation errors since they were teaching basics of operations. Elementary teaching programs should cover more mathematics courses with ambitious mathematics teaching with basic operations and logic.

Keywords:
pre-service elementary teachers power numbers algebraic operations error patterns error analysis

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