MISTAKE-HANDLING STRATEGIES IN THE MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH VIDEO

Educational literature underlines the importance of error in learning experiences and his potential to create socio-cognitive conflicts in learners. Several works analysed strategies used by teachers to handle students’ mistakes. Some of these focused on cultural aspects of educational practices (Santagata, 2004; 2005), while others tried to identify which mistake-handling strategies were more efficient in term of student learning (Steuer et al., 2013; Tulis, 2013). Only a few studies, instead, explored teachers’ error beliefs and the relationships between beliefs and practices. This study investigates teachers’ beliefs about errors role in learning and the strategies used in classroom to handle student errors. Firstly teachers’ beliefs have been analysed through a questionnaire which contained an adaptation of the Error Orientation Questionnaire (by Rybowiak et al., 1999). The questionnaire has been filled in by sixty teachers of primary and middle school. Secondly, three math teachers’ classes have been videotaped and mistake-handling strategies were coded. The mistake-handling strategies coding scheme was based on Santagata (2004, 2005). Cluster analysis was performed on questionnaire data collected from the sample of teachers to identify respondents’ typologies. Two cluster were performed based on two opposite error orientations (positive versus negative). The analysis of the videotaped lessons suggested the higher effectiveness of the positive attitude on students’ learning. In fact, teachers with positive error orientation used more adaptive strategies and had higher levels of mastery achievement goal, self-efficacy, and mastery learning practices. Although this group of teachers shown better practices, they still perceived high strain in front of errors. This result demonstrates that error meaning still maintains ambiguity. Even if further validations of the scale are needed, interesting practical implications are suggested by this study: in fact, videotaping let observers analyse deeply educational strategies and offers interesting idea for new teachers training’s programme. Videotaping could be useful to help teachers in reflection on their practices and help them to develop new professional skills.