STUDENTS’ THINKING PROCESS IN SOLVING MATHEMATICAL LITERACY PROBLEM BASED ON COGNITIVE STYLE

Abstract

Literacy is becoming the world’s great hope. Various countries are looking for ways to improve literacy skills, including mathematical literacy. Literacy is the key to empowering students. There are three components of mathematical literacy, namely context, content, and process. This study aims to describe students’ thinking process in solving mathematical literacy problems in terms of reflective and impulsive cognitive styles. The student’s mathematical thinking process refers to three phases: entry, attack, and review. This type of research is descriptive qualitative with research subjects selected using the Matching Familiar Figure (MFF) cognitive style test on 7 grade IX students from four different junior high schools. The MFF test results obtained that two students had a reflective cognitive style, two students had an impulsive cognitive style, one student was slow inaccurate, and two students were fast accurate. Then a mathematical literacy test is given to students who have reflective and impulsive cognitive styles. This study concluded that there were differences in students’ thought processes in solving mathematical literacy problems between students who had reflective and impulsive cognitive styles. Students with a reflective cognitive style do not go through one phase looking for other problem-solving strategies. The student’s thinking process with impulsive cognitive style did not reach the review phase, especially in the reflect and extend phase. Students cannot reflect on ideas and ideas in solving problems, do not make generalizations, and have difficulty finding alternative solutions to problem-solving. corresponding author 2020 Mathematics Subject Classification. 97C30, 97B10.