Students’ Difficulties in Understanding Problems and Making Mathematical Models in the Contextual Problem Solving Process

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-554-6_66How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Understanding problems; Making mathematical models

Abstract

Understanding problems and making mathematical models are essential factors in solving contextual problems. This research aims to provide a detailed description of students’ difficulties in understanding problems and making mathematical models in contextual problem-solving dealing with arithmetic and geometry. This research was qualitative with a phenomenological hermeneutic design. The subject of the research was 60 eighth-grade students from two schools in Bandung. The data collection techniques were tests and interviews. Before using this instrument, it was validated by experts, especially on the content, construct, and face. The steps of data analysis were identifying the meanings, determining the credibility, interpreting the data, identifying the themes, and preparing the final report. There are four conclusions in this research. First, the difficulties met by students in understanding problems are difficulties in understanding mathematical terms, reading comprehension, connecting the initial and goals states, and connecting meanings. Second, the main factors that affect student difficulties in understanding the problem are their lack of carefulness in reading the task and conceptual understanding. Third, the difficulties met by students in making mathematical models are related to their struggles in working mathematically. Finally, the main factors that affect student difficulties in making mathematical models are the students’ lack of understanding of mathematical concepts, their in-ability to apply these concepts, and their limited practical experience in mathematical modeling.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Sufyani Prabawanto
AU  - Tatang Herman
AU  - Rini Melani
AU  - Christina Monika Samosir
AU  - Syifa Ananda Mefiana
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/11/29
TI  - Students’ Difficulties in Understanding Problems and Making Mathematical Models in the Contextual Problem Solving Process
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Education and Technology (ICETECH 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 796
EP  - 810
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-554-6_66
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-554-6_66
ID  - Prabawanto2024
ER  -