Error type analysis based on Newman’s theory in solving mathematical communication ability of junior high school students on the material of polyhedron

Abstract

This study aims to analyze students’ mistakes in doing mathematical communication ability on polyhedron Newman error indicators. This research used a qualitative approach with a case study method. The subjects of the study were the eighth grade students of at one of the public high schools in the city of Bandung in solving questions about Building polyhedron. The research instrument was a test that was analyzed using the Newman error indicator. Based on the results of data analysis, it was known that the average mathematical communication ability of students were still low. The indications were: (1) 8.3% of students misread questions (do not know the meaning of the questions); (2) 13.3% of students misunderstood the questions for (did not know what to look for); (3) 30.0% of students incorrectly transformed questions (could not form the generating function of the questions); (4) 18.3% of students did not have process ability (errors in calculations); and (5) 21.7% of students mistakenly wrote the final answer (error writing the final answer to the problem).