• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.239-266
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• 2004

This article presents new perspectives for analysing and diagnosing students' mathematical errors on the basis of Pascaul-Leone's neo-Piagetian theory. Although Pascaul-Leone's theory is a cognitive developmental theory, its psychological mechanism gives us new insights on mathematical errors. We analyze mathematical errors in the domain of proof problem solving comparing Pascaul-Leone's psychological mechanism with mathematical errors and diagnose misleading factors using Schoenfeld's levels of analysis and structure and fuzzy cognitive map(FCM). FCM can present with cause and effect among preconceptions or misconceptions that students have about prerequisite proof knowledge and problem solving. Conclusions could be summarized as follows: 1) Students' mathematical errors on proof problem solving and LC learning structures have the same nature. 2) Structures in items of students' mathematical errors and misleading factor structures in cognitive tasks affect mental processes with the same activation mechanism. 3) LC learning structures were activated preferentially in knowledge structures by F operator. With the same activation mechanism, the process students' mathematical errors were activated firstly among conceptions could be explained.