What Good Mathematicians Do: Check Your Work

A few weeks ago, I hung a large poster in my room titled,"What Good Mathematicians Do". The poster, by McDonald Publishing Co., has eleven things listed on it. This week I asked students to sit facing me with their back to the poster. I asked them to tell me any of the things they had noticed or could guess were on the poster.

The most common answer in all of the groups was, "Check your work!" In fact, for most groups, this was the only answer they could initially come up with. I facillitated a few activities and discussion around the poster and was able to drive home a few more points, but I found it interesting that the "Check your work" answer stood out so prominently.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. At every grade level, teachers remind children to check their work. It has been drilled into them, even though it seems that many choose to ignore this advice. "Check your work!" is a common admonition for just about every math task from kindergarten on up.

What if math teachers were just as diligent and consistent at teaching the other aspects of being a good mathematician? What if "Know how to explain your work," and "Ask questions," were called out as frequently as "Check your work"? I think we would have higher achieving students. If they were just as familliar with the other success strategies, students would probably be more capable of checking their work, and ultimately more successful.