ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS' MATHEMATICAL CRITICAL THINKING ABILITY IN MIDDLE SCHOOL ON FLAT-SIDED SOLID GEOMETRY MATERIAL

Abstract

Mathematical critical thinking ability is a thinking skill that involves students' prior knowledge which is then abstracted so that cognitive strategies are created as determinants of deciding arguments and conclusions in dealing with mathematical problems. The type of research method used is descriptive qualitative with the aim of obtaining an overview of students' mathematical critical thinking ability. A total of 20 students of class VIII-A at one of the MTs Darussafi'iyah NW Peseng were used as the subjects of this study. The research instrument was a descriptive test question consisting of three items related to the material of flat-sided solid shapes that had been adjusted to the characteristics of critical thinking ability. The descriptive test question instrument has been validated by mathematics subject teachers and expert mathematics lecturers. The indicators of mathematical critical thinking ability used as guidelines in this study are: interpretation, analysis, evaluation and inference. Analysis was carried out on students' answers with results showing that students' critical mathematical thinking abilities were classified as moderate. Based on the average results of the overall students' mathematical critical thinking ability test, a percentage of 25% was in the high category, 50% was in the medium category and 25% was in the low category. So it can be concluded that the level of critical mathematical thinking ability of students at MTs Darussafi'iyah NW Peseng is classified as moderate