A common Misconception

One of way to find out if pupils have understood the concept is to 'test' them. Pupils have been used to completing the following types of question. Look at the question below.

To test them, I added in an extra line to the question.

Pupils who have not understood the concept of place value or have a misconception, wrote 2 on the line(300 + 2 + 4). According to the pupil, there are 2 groups of ten so he wrote 2 down. However, another pupil pointed out the mistake and explained that it is 20 because there is no ‘tens’ after the blank (P2 pupils cannot really explain properly but the point is the child has understood).
Therefore with the aid of Multi-e toolbox, I tried to explain and demo to the rest what the child had explained about the missing ‘tens’ concept. After lots of practise, they finally understood.
Mission Accomplished.
Lessons that I have Learnt
1) At times, let them try out questions before you teach them a new concept oe expand on an existing concept.
If they get it wrong, they will wonder why and will start questioning and it is an excellent opportunity to develop ‘metacognition’. It also makes them pay attention....
2) Peer-evaluation and peer marking with explanation on why it is right or wrong, is good. It forces them to think about the answer and to justify their marking.

Tips for Parents.
1) Whenever possible ask your child to explain the answer that he/she has written regardless of whether it is right or wrong. When your articulates, your child is running through the process of arriving at the answer and you can check you child’s understanding of the concept.