Towards understanding the error analysis thinking of prospective mathematics teachers

Zoltán Paulovics; Csaba Csapodi

doi:10.29333/iejme/16678

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Zoltán Paulovics ¹ ^* , Csaba Csapodi ¹ ²

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¹ Eötvös Loránd University, HUNGARY² Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics, HUNGARY^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

High school teachers often encounter incorrect solutions from students, especially when teaching combinatorics. This study investigates the ability of prospective mathematics teachers to assess the correctness of solutions to combinatorial problems and to falsify incorrect ones. 39 second-year prospective teachers participated in the experiment, analysing both correct and incorrect solutions to combinatorial tasks. They were asked not only to judge the correctness but also to identify the cause of procedural or conceptual errors. The results indicate that for incorrect solutions, 44.16% of the error identifications were accurate, and only 36.36% of cases could be successfully falsified. Furthermore, when evaluating correct solutions, 57.1% of the correct solutions were mistakenly judged as incorrect. Overall, 31 out of the 39 participants were unable to accurately determine the correctness of the solutions, despite their advanced mathematical background. These findings highlight the need to foster error-detection skills and thorough reasoning in teacher training programs.

Keywords

error analysis
prospective mathematics teachers
mathematics teaching practices

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INT ELECT J MATH ED, Volume 20, Issue 4, November 2025, Article No: em0848

https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/16678

Publication date: 01 Oct 2025

Online publication date: 29 Jul 2025

Article Views: 132

Article Downloads: 75

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How to cite this article

APA

Paulovics, Z., & Csapodi, C. (2025). Towards understanding the error analysis thinking of prospective mathematics teachers. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 20(4), em0848. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/16678

Vancouver

Paulovics Z, Csapodi C. Towards understanding the error analysis thinking of prospective mathematics teachers. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2025;20(4):em0848. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/16678

AMA

Paulovics Z, Csapodi C. Towards understanding the error analysis thinking of prospective mathematics teachers. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2025;20(4), em0848. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/16678

Chicago

Paulovics, Zoltán, and Csaba Csapodi. "Towards understanding the error analysis thinking of prospective mathematics teachers". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2025 20 no. 4 (2025): em0848. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/16678

Harvard

Paulovics, Z., and Csapodi, C. (2025). Towards understanding the error analysis thinking of prospective mathematics teachers. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 20(4), em0848. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/16678

MLA

Paulovics, Zoltán et al. "Towards understanding the error analysis thinking of prospective mathematics teachers". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 20, no. 4, 2025, em0848. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/16678