Students’ Errors in Solving Mathematical Word Problems and their Ability in Identifying Errors in Wrong Solutions

Abstract

Solving mathematical word problems is a difficult, complex and intellectual activity. The formation of problem solving skills is much more difficult than calculation skills because the problems are related to many concepts and a lot of mathematical relationships. Therefore, students are inevitable to commit errors to deal with them. This study shows the errors of 160 3rd grade students regarding some kinds of word problems in Mathematics 3 in Vietnam. The results indicate that children commit many errors due to many different reasons such as: subjectivity, carelessness, wrong application of the calculation rules, incorrect identification of problem kinds and wrong calculation.