I recently read an article in Education Week that was proclaiming the benefits of discussing student mistakes in class. The author, Alina Tugend who has recently published a book entitled, Better by Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong, cited that in some asian cultures students can be asked to work out “math problems in front of the whole class for a healthy period of time…even if [they] are doing it wrong.” She goes on to discuss that the teacher might ask the student to discuss her thought process and why they chose to do the problem that way and the decisions they made at certain points in order for the class to see the choices that were made at certain crossroads in the problem solving process. Some researchers believe that this type of discussion allows students to help create a sort of “index” of what still needs to be learned or what has already been learned.

In other words, the class is actually viewing the errors and misunderstandings as a helpful thing. They’re using the opportunity of the mistake, of being wrong, as kind of a check point to see what else they need to know. Perhaps someone else in the room might have did something differently that might have led them in a direction that was more fruitful and everyone can learn from that as well. So there is much more to be learned from this type of environment. On the one hand, the students learn the material, but on the other hand, they are learning that they can learn from each other and they learn that being wrong in the first place was actually helpful.

This also goes to the idea of how problem-based learning is ideal for this type of learning. Posing the problem in the context of a prior knowledge base, allows students to think that they have a background that is sufficient for them to do the problem, they just need to recall what that was with a little push. It also fosters was researcher Carol Dweck calls the “Growth Mindset” allowing students to believe that their intelligence and ability to succeed to flexible and not pre-determined.

I am getting excited for my course next week at the Math and Technology Conference in Exeter, NH which I believe is full. I love this conference because I always meet lots of people who are so eager to engage in mathematics and learning. It should be a great time of dialogue and I look forward to a great time!