Abstract:

Knowledge of students and knowledge of teaching strategies could be considered as the main components of teachers' knowledge. The purpose of this study was to investigate how elementary mathematics teachers interpret the students' answers including erroneous representation, which strategies these teachers offer to overcome students' errors and how their interpretations and offered strategies differ in terms of their experience years. Basic qualitative research approach was used. For the purpose of the study, clinical interviews were conducted with 5 elementary mathematics teachers, and 3 of teachers' professional experience is less than ten years and 2 of teachers' professional experience is more than thirty years. Results of the study revealed that teachers poorly interpret the students' errors and correspondingly they offer only limited strategies in order to overcome students' errors. Furthermore, results showed that -contrary to expectations- less-experienced and highly experienced teachers showed similar results in terms of their interpretations of students' answers and offered strategies in order to overcome students' errors

Keywords: