Mathematical Representation of Deaf Students in Problem Solving Seen from Students’ Creative Thinking Levels

Abstract

Mathematical representation is an important ability to be developed and must be owned by students. Representative ability is centered on mathematical studies that encourage students to be able to develop problem-solving skills based on students’ high-order thinking, one of which is creative thinking. This study aims to analyze the mathematical representation of deaf students in solving mathematical problems in terms of the level of creative thinking. This study uses a qualitative approach with research subjects consisting of 5 deaf students in the fifth grade of SDLB (extraordinary elementary school) Pringsewu 2017/2018 academic year. Collecting data by providing test questions about mathematical problem solving then interviewed the students about mathematical representation in solving a problem. Data in the form of research is data test results and interviews. The results showed a number of 5 students could solve problems seen from various levels of creative thinking. In the problem-solving process, the most prominent mathematical representation of students is the visual representation. As many as four students have the ability to visually represent mathematics in solving problems in terms of the level of creative thinking. As many as one students are able to understand the problem-solving abilities of equations or mathematical expressions and problem-solving in verbal abilities in the form of words or written texts. In addition, there is also one student who does not understand the question given and has not been able to answer the question in the right way. There is one student at the lowest level, namely level 0 (not creative). There are 3 students at level 1 (almost not creative) and 1 student at level 3 (creative).