The Effect of Mathematical Problems Domain to the Students Mathematical Problem Solving Enhancement

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to see the effectiveness of considering the mathematical problems domain to increase students problem solving ability. More specific, this study aimed to compare the students mathematical problem solving enhancement, between groups of students who are given learning strategies with due regard to mathematical problems domain and groups of students who are given learning strategies regardless to mathematical problems domain. In the group of students where mathematical problems domain was considered, female students will solve mathematical problems with the feminine domain, and male students will solve mathematical problems with masculine domain. Sampels in this study are junior high school (SMP) students grade VII and VIII, and senior high school (SMA) students grade XI, two classes for each grade for the comparative study. Three different teaching strategies were implemented, ATI (Aptittude Treatment Interaction) for the grade VIII students, Treffinger for the grade VII students, and MEA (Means Ends Analysis) for the grade XI students. The instruments are problem solving tests (pretest and posttest) with mathematical problems domain feminine, masculine or general. The result showed that students who are given learning strategies with due regard to mathematical problems domain, have significantly better mathematical problem solving enhancement, than the students who are given learning strategies regardless to mathematical problems domain. This applies for the ATI, Treffinger and MEA learning strategies.
Key words: Mathematical problem solving, , learning strategy, ATI, Treffinger, MEA, problems domain.