The Ability of Students’ Mathematical Proof in the Introduction to Group Theory in terms of Gender Differences

Abstract

Mathematical proof is one of the mathematical abilities that is very important for students. Until now, most students had difficulty in mathematical proof. The difficulty of this mathematical proof needs to be analyzed the causes, including analysis based on gender differences. This qualitative research aims to describe the ability of mathematical proof based on gender difference. The research subjects were students of mathematics education FKIP Lampung University taking the introduction to group theory in the odd semester of the academic year 2019/2020. Research subjects were 30 people; consisted of 7 men and 23 women. Data was collected through tests and observations, and it were analyzed descriptively based on 3 indicator levels, namely fluency, flexibility, and originality. The results showed that the mathematical proof ability of students were 1.80 (medium); men was 1.43 (medium) and female was 1.87 (medium), and men reach originality. So, it is concluded that the mathematical proof ability of students is medium, women are higher than men in fluency and flexibility, but men are higher than women in originality. Keywords: Mathematical proof, the introduction to group theory, gender differences