Development of Mathematical Connection Ability Instruments for Elementary School Students

Abstract

This research is motivated by the importance of mathematical connection skills. Based on the results of previous studies, it is known that the mathematical connection ability of elementary school students is still low. This study aims to develop a mathematical connection ability instrument suitable for elementary school students. This study uses the research and development method. The samples are 27 sixth-grade students at an elementary school in Purwakarta who were selected through purposive sampling. The ability instrument that has been made is in the form of an essay that consists of five open-ended questions about geometry. The indicators developed in preparing the questions were related to the ability of mathematical connections. The questions were constructed according to expert suggestions followed by a trial to see its validity, reliability, difficulty index, and discriminating power. Results show that the validity and reliability of the test instrument developed in this study are 0.73 and 0.84, implying that the test instrument has high validity and reliability. Questions numbers 1,3, and 5 have a high level of difficulty, while numbers 2 and 4 have a very high level of difficulty. The discriminating power for question number 1 is 47.62% (good), number 2 is 28.57% (fair), number 3 is 38.10% (good), number 4 is 28.57% (fair), and number 5 is 57.14% (very good).Thus, the five test items can measure mathematical connections in learning mathematics on geometry topics for fifth-grade elementary school students and are appropriate for further research instruments on similar subjects and variables.
 Keywords: Mathematical Connection, Elementary School, Students