Mistakes as Learning Opportunities: Long-Term Effects of Positive Error Framing in Elementary Math Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Studies of Innovations in Mathematics Teaching (Table 6)

Abstract

This study examines an elementary teacher’s framing of mistakes as learning opportunities and how this framing played a role in students' success in STEM 10 years later. Commonly, U.S. math classrooms emphasize correctness, limiting students’ opportunities to learn from their mistakes. By exploring the experiences of three college students—Mario, Liliana, and Violeta—who were positively influenced by their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th elementary grade teacher, the study highlights how framing errors as tools for learning and positioning students as capable of learning from mistakes can foster positive learning outcomes. These findings emphasize the importance of productive frames of errors in the math classroom in promoting conceptual understanding and a sense of competence in mathematics.

Authors

• Mariana Alvidrez, New Mexico State University

• Jessica Rivera, University of Texas - San Antonio

• Marisol Diaz, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona