The Significance of Mistakes and Fallacies in Teaching College Mathematics

문제풀이의 오류, 결점, 모순을 이용한 대학수학 학습지도

  • Published : 2007.05.15

Abstract

When we teach mathematics in college, we find a lot of mistakes, fallacies and flaws in the solution of the students. In this paper, we presented a variety of examples of mistakes and fallacies, including wrong proofs, misinterpreted definitions and the mistaken use of theory. The examples, taken from different classes and subjects, are based on our own experience of teaching mathematics. As the previous research argued, such mistakes, fallacies and flaws should be considered as natural phenomena in the students' progress and should be analyzed systematically for the more effective education. By providing a wide-ranging examples of mistakes and fallacies, and detailed analyses of them, we emphasized the significance of the analysis of mistakes and fallacies and proposed that more careful attention should be paid on the collection and development of teaching materials in the area of mistake and fallacy analysis. We hope that this study would be a meaningful contribution to the teaching of mathematics in college.

대학수학 학습지도에서 문제풀이가 잘못된 경우를 9개 영역으로 분류하고 각 영역마다 잘못이 일어나는 과정에 대한 세부 문항과 내용을 제시하고 오류를 지적해보도록 유도하며 올바른 문제풀이에 이르는 길을 확인하는 기회를 갖도록 한다. 이들 학습자료가 주는 중요한 의미를 여덟 가지로 요약하여 대학수학의 이해에 도움을 주고 대학수학 학습의 동기부여와 흥미를 느끼도록 안내하며 잘못된 풀이나 실수의 확인이 중요함을 일깨우고 분석하게 하여 깊이 있고 여유로운 수학학습을 생각할 기회를 제공한다.

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