Examination of the Views of Class Teachers Regarding the Errors Primary School Students Make in Four Operations

Abstract

Teaching of addition , subtraction , multiplication and division in mathematics starts from the first years of primary school . The learning output for four operations (addition , subtraction , multiplication and division) affects student success at every level of mathematics education from primary to higher education . At this point errors , misunderstandings and possible misconceptions of students need to be identified , eliminated , and the forms of instruction that prevent its formation need to be investigated . This study aims to identify the errors primary school students make in four operations according to the views of class teachers . The study was designed in the qualitative research design and the semi - structured interview form prepared by the researchers was used in the study . The study group consisted of 48 class teachers . It has been found out that students make more errors in adding , subtracting and multiplying decimal digits , and using zero in division . In addition , classroom teachers stated that the mistakes made in four operations result mostly from student , teacher , program and the student ' s family and environment respectively . Teachers made course content , teacher , student and family oriented suggestions to eliminate the mistakes in four operations .