The acceptability of concrete mathematics manipulative by children

Abstract

Concrete Mathematics manipulative (APM) are developed to assist children in learning Mathematical concepts and facilitate children’s Mathematics activities to support children’s higher-order thinking skill (HOTS) development. As a stage in development research, one of the study’s objectives was to find out concrete APM product’s acceptability by children. Acceptability was measured by the TAM approach. The research subjects were Primary School-Junior High School children who were allowed to use these products in schools, learning groups, and playgroups, totaling 170 children. The variables studied were perceived ease to use, perceived usefulness, attitude toward using, and behavioral intention. The statistical analysis applied was Covarian Based Structural Equation Modelling (CB-SEM) with a hybrid model (a CFA and model structural) and used Maximum Likelihood estimation. The CFA first-order model’s estimation and evaluation results showed that the research model had fulfilled good fit criteria, and a reliable variable is PEU. Meanwhile, Estimation and Structural Model Evaluation showed that the most significant influence was on PU and PEU’s relationship towards ATU. The conclusion was that the usefulness and ease of use perceived by children affected the attitudes, which further mediated using, which was quite high (87%).