Developing Primary Students’ Understanding of Mathematics through Mathematization: A Case of Teaching the Multiplication of Two Natural Numbers

<p style="text-align: justify;">Numeracy is one of the essential competencies that the objectives of teaching math to primary students should be towards. However, many research findings show that the problem of “innumeracy” frequently exists at primary schools. That means children still do not feel at home in the world of numbers and operations. Therefore, the paper aims to apply the realistic mathematics education (RME) approach to tackling the problem of innumeracy, in the case of teaching the multiplication of two natural numbers to primary students. We conducted a pedagogical experiment with 46 grade 2 students who have not studied the multiplication yet. The pedagogical experiment lasted in six lessons, included seven activities and nine worksheets which are designed according to fundamental principles of RME by researchers. This is mainly a qualitative study. Based on data obtained from classroom observations and students’ response on worksheets, under the perspective of RME, the article pointed out how mathematization processes took place throughout students' activities, their attitudes towards math learning, and their learning outcomes. The study results found that students were more interested in math learning and understood the concepts of multiplication of two natural numbers.</p>

Realistic Mathematics Education's Effect on Students' Performance and Attitudes: A Case of Ellipse Topics Learning

<p style="text-align: justify;">Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) has gained popularity worldwide to teach mathematics using real-world problems. This study investigates the effectiveness of elliptic topics taught to 10th graders in a Vietnamese high school and students' attitudes toward learning. The RME model was used to guide 45 students in an experimental class, while the conventional model was applied to instruct 42 students in the control class. Data collection methods included observation, pre-test, post-test, and a student opinion survey. The experimental results confirm the test results, and the experimental class's learning outcomes were significantly higher than that of the control class's students. Besides, student participation in learning activities and attitudes toward learning were significantly higher in the RME model class than in the control class. Students will construct their mathematical knowledge based on real-life situations. The organization of teaching according to RME is not only a new method of teaching but innovation in thinking about teaching mathematics.</p>

Developing interactive e-module based on realistic mathematics education approach and mathematical literacy ability

Teaching and learning activities are carried out online during the pandemic situation. This condition makes the teaching and learning process in the classroom requires teaching materials that can support the learning process. However, some teachers still use teaching materials commonly used during face-to-face learning, which is irrelevant for offline learning. Therefore, teachers need alternative interactive teaching materials that can facilitate online learning. This study aims to produce teaching materials in an interactive e-module based on the Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) approach with the content of number pattern that is valid, practical, and have potentially affected the eight-grade students' mathematical literacy skills. The research method used is design research with type of development studies which include two main stages, namely the preliminary design and the formative evaluation. The data collection instruments used were content and media expert validation sheets, student response questionnaires, and pretest and posttest questions to measure mathematical literacy skills. This research produces an RME-based e-module on number pattern material that is valid, practical, and potentially affects mathematical literacy skills. The results showed that the e-module was valid in content and media quality with very good criteria. Next, the e-module has also been practical from assessing student responses with good criteria. Finally, the e-module can potentially improve students' mathematical literacy skills, which is indicated by the increase in students' mathematical literacy skills after learning to use the e-module. In addition, the e-module developed in this study contributes as alternative teaching material for teachers in the online learning system.

Implementasi pendekatan pendidikan matematika realistik ditinjau dari pemahaman konsep, aktivitas, dan respons siswa

This study aims to describe the ability to understand mathematical concepts, activities and student responses in learning mathematics with realistic mathematics education approach. To achieve this goal, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with one group pretest posttest design. The population of the study was the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 4 Angkola Timur, sampling by purposive sampling, namely class 8-2, totaling 26 students. Research activities include the stages of giving the Pre-test followed by learning for 3 meetings which then ends with a final test. Through research conducted using the Paired Samples Test, a significance of 0.00 < 0.05 was obtained, which gave the decision that the initial hypothesis was accepted. Of the 9 aspects of learning activities studied in the application of realistic mathematics education, the overall average value of the percentage of all activities met the active criteria. Furthermore, the average overall student response to being happy, new, interested and understanding/interested in the implementation of realistic mathematics education is 91.11% ≥ 85%. Thus it is concluded that: 1) The implementation of a realistic mathematics education approach has a significant positive influence in learning students' ability to understand mathematical concepts; 2) Student activities in learning mathematics with realistic mathematics education approach are effective; 3) Student responses to learning activities with realistic mathematics education are in the positive category.