Childrens errors are a natural and inevitable part of their process of learning.

In the process of grasping new concepts, children apply their existing understanding, which may not match with the method and content of formal instruction. Sunlit is an example of this. Children's errors are also reflections of how children think and learn. They are often a window into the child's world. For example, writing 51 for 15 tells us that the child has not grasped the concept of place value as yet, and needs a lot more practice with grouping.

This kind of analysis of a child's error can play a highly constructive role in helping the teacher to guide the learner to develop mathematical thinking. Making errors, and learning from them, is part of the process of developing a sound understanding. In fact, this is more important than producing the right answer. Unfortunately, the traditional teacher still tends to view learning as having occurred only when correct responses are given.

In the following exercise we ask you to look closely at a child's error.

E18) A Class 5 child fills in the box in with 9/2. What is your diagnosis of the error? How would you remedy the situation?

With this we come to the end of our discussion on ways of building a good learning environment for children. Let us now briefly touch upon what we have discussed in this unit.