Secondary school mathematics teachers' approaches to students' possible mistakes

One of the important components that shape both the pedagogical and mathematical content knowledge is the component of being aware of students' mistakes. This study tries to investigate in what degree mathematics teachers correctly built their mathematical content knowledge by using the component that shapes both their mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge. According to this aim, teachers were subjected to a test that includes three questions. The content of the test include incorrect solutions of questions related to sequences, derivative and integration and teachers were asked to explain the reasons of such mistakes based on mathematical knowledge. It was assumed that there is a direct relation between their determination of the reasons of the incorrect solutions and their mathematical content knowledge on such subject. The situation was presented descriptively. The data gathered in the study revealed that mathematics teachers experienced difficulty in determining and in explaining the reasons of the incorrect solutions in general, even, some of them have different mistakes on subject. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.