Students’ structure sense ability in solving quadratic equation problems

Abstract

Structure sense is the ability of students to see any relation between symbols, to manipulate, and to use algebraic structures. This is considered an important ability for students as algebra is the core topic within high school mathematics. An important skills need to be acquired by students in algebra is solving equations, such as solving quadratic equations. To address this, this research aims to understand students’ structure sense ability by investigating strategies used in solving quadratic equations of the form of a square of difference of two variables. To reach these aims, a qualitative descriptive method was conducted in the form of four quadratic equation tasks done by twelve Senior High School Students from one of senior high schools in Bandung. In this study, each student was required to work on each task using two different strategies if possible. The result from the students’ answers informed that the majority used structure sense strategy. However, there were mistakes conducted by fifty percent and more students completing both the procedural and structure sense strategy. In conclusion, we found out that students’ structure sense ability is good despite students experienced some difficulties, whether they used the procedural strategy or involved their structure sense.