Students’ reflective thinking process in mathematical problem-solving reviewed from self-confidence

Abstract

The reflective thinking process is a crucial skill to develop by students. However, the students’ reflective thinking process has been far from expected. One of the reasons is because in solving mathematical problems, students are less thorough and in a rush without rechecking their work, resulting in they are unaware of any mistake they made. Besides, students’ self-confidence should also be noticed as each student has a different magnitude of self-confidence. This study aims to describe students’ reflective thinking process in problem-solving reviewed from the self-confidence. This research employed qualitative research, involving three out of 22 year 9 students in one of the junior high schools in Aceh Barat Daya, Indonesia. The subject selection using purposive sampling, which is the three students consisted of one student with high self-confidence, one with moderate self-confidence, and one with low self-confidence. Data collection were conducted using a self-confidence questionnaire, problem-solving test items, and interviews. The data was analyzed using descriptive qualitative method, including data reduction, data presentation, and concluding. The results showed that: (1) students with high self-confidence conducted the reflective thinking process in each step of problem-solving; (2) students with moderate self-confidence conducted the reflective thinking process in three steps of problem-solving; and (3) students with low self-confidence only conducted the reflective process in one step of problem-solving, namely understanding the problem: identifying information that is known and asked and being able to select the existing mathematical knowledge to solve problems.