Abstract
Human must have the ability to understand, because understanding can prevent people from misunderstandings and conflicts. Similarly, public junior high school (PJHS) students need to have mathematical understanding ability (MUA) for a reason, that is, MUA is an important part in problem solving. In fact, MUA of PJHS students was still low. This research was conducted to contribute in improving students’ MUA. There were 158 students engaged in the experiment classroom as well as in the conventional one taken from PJHS 1, 2, and 4 from district of Deli Serdang, PJHS 17 and 22 from Medan City, Indonesia. Joyful problem based learning (JPBL) approach was applied to attain the purpose of the research. The study used essay-test to measure students’ MUA. The score obtained was then analyzed by t-independent test, while student performance in solving MUA problems was described descriptively. Results of the research: (1) Students MUA’ score was higher in the experiment classroom than in the conventional one. (2) The improvement of students MUA in the experiment classroom belongs to medium category. (3) The students’ performance in MUA was better in the JPBL classroom than it was in the conventional one. Some students faced difficulties both in explaining the solution and in giving example of a mathematical concept. Overall, the students’ performance was best at the aspect of presenting problem in mathematics equation. Based on the findings, the study suggests teachers to give reinforcement in both aspect where students lacked of by, for example, encouraging them to solve a variety of problems which eliciting the aspect of explaining and giving examples.
Highlights
Problem solving is an ability or skill very important be acquired, because from birth humans have faced challenging problems that forced him get the solution
The results showed that the instruction materials are quite effective in improving the students’ mathematical understanding ability [MUA]
Joyful Problem-based Learning (JPBL) has proven effective in improving mathematical understanding (Minarni, Napitupulu, & Husein, 2016) and representation ability of 88 students distributed in Tebing Tinggi, Pematangsiantar City and Medan City (Minarni & Napitupulu, 2017)
Summary
Problem solving is an ability or skill very important be acquired, because from birth humans have faced challenging problems that forced him get the solution. Mathematical problem solving is the process of applying mathematical knowledge into new and unfamiliar mathematical problems It can be seen in NCTM (2000) some examples of problem designed to elicit students’ problem solving skills, while some other problems have the purpose to elicit the students' reasoning, understanding, representation, communication, and connection skills. Preliminary research turned out to show an unfavorable result in term of the students’ mathematical understanding (Minarni, Napitupulu, & Husein, 2016) For this reason, researchers develop instruction materials aimed to improve the ability of mathematical understanding of grade 8 junior high school students. The students’ achievement in MUA test are 62 from the 100 scale This indicates that the ability of mathematical understanding improved through implementing Joyful Problem-based Learning (JPBL) (Minarni & Napitupulu, 2017). JPBL implemented more widely scope, including 158 students from five schools in District of Deli Serdang and Medan City in the hope that more students will experience improvement in mathematical understanding ability
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