Students lateral mathematical thinking ability on trigonometric problems
M E Nggaba, T Herman, and S Prabawanto

Program Studi Pendidikan Matematika, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setia Budhi No. 229, Bandung 40154, Indonesia

Abstract

To describe students lateral mathematical thinking ability on trigonometric problems, we conducted a research on 30 students (15/16 year old) in West Java, Indonesia. This research is a qualitative descriptive research and data collection technique is written test with 3 description questions. The test results were analyzed using three indicators of lateral mathematical thinking ability, i.e (1) finding different ways of looking at things, (2) identifying the dominant ideas of the problems, and (3) associating concepts / ideas into several strategies may be true or false. Results of the study showed that: (1) almost one-third of the number of students can look for different ways of looking at a problem, (2) more than one-third of students can identify the dominant ideas of the problem, and (3) more than half students can associate a concept / idea so that it becomes some strategies that may be true or false. Based on the result of research, it is seen that most students do not have good lateral thinking ability in solving trigonometric problems.

Keywords: lateral mathematical thinking ability, mathematical problem, trigonometry

Topic: 1. Mathematics Education