Cognitive style, thinking ability, mathematical problems, how do students solve open-ended problems?

Abstract

Students' abilities must be possessed and continue to be developed in learning mathematics, including thinking. Students will be able to solve mathematical problems, especially when faced with questions that demand students' creative thinking. However, students still experience difficulty learning mathematics, significantly when solving and even solving open-ended questions. This study aims to analyze students' creative thinking skills in solving open-ended problems regarding cognitive style with descriptive qualitative research. The subjects were students studying at Islamic boarding schools in Tulungagung, with tests and interviews as instruments for collecting data. The GEFT test was used initially to group students based on their cognitive style. The results show that the four subjects are at the third level, namely, the ability to think creatively, namely creative. The four subjects met the indicators of fluency and flexibility but still needed to improve in the originality indicator