Spatial ability of student in construct volume of the solid of revolution graphic

Abstract

Visualization ability (spatial ability) is needed in understanding integral calculus. This article discusses changes in the spatial ability of a student in constructing graphs of functions to determine the volume of the solid of revolution after obtaining treatment. The treatment is in the form of questions that encourage the subject to be able to construct the graph correctly. This research is a qualitative descriptive study with a single subject. The subject in this study was 6th semester student of mathematics education study program at one of the private universities in Yogyakarta. The selection of a subject from 44 students was done by giving a question about the volume of the solid of revolution. The subject is asked to constructing the solid of revolution graphic and determine its volume using integral. The selection of subjects by purposive random sampling based on the uniqueness of the answers to the problems given and good communication skills. The results of the study show that giving treatment can help increase a student’s spatial ability gradually. Before getting treatment, a subject is still not right in constructing volume of the solid of revolution graphic. After getting treatment, there is a gradual change in spatial ability.