Overcoming A Student's Difficulty in Learning Math Lessons in Third Grade at SD Bestari Utami Garut.

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i Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Tugas Akhir ini berisi pembahasan masalah yang saya temukan selama masa magang saya di SD Bestari Utami ketika seorang siswa kelas 3 mengalami kesulitan dalam mempelajari pelajaran Matematika. Masalah ini disebabkan karena siswa tersebut tidak berkonsentrasi ketika saya menjelaskan pelajaran Matematika, dan karena siswa tersebut juga tidak menyukai pelajaran matematika. Kesulitan yang dihadapi siswa ini

mengakibatkan beberapa hal. Akibat pertama, beberapa siswa lain yang duduk berdekatan dengan siswa yang memiliki kesulitan dalam pelajaran Matematika, tidak bisa menyelesaikan latihan soal Matematika. Akibat ke dua adalah siswa mendapat nilai yang rendah dalam kuis-kuis

Matematika.

Dalam Tugas Akhir ini saya menganalisis beberapa kemungkinan solusi untuk memecahkan masalah ini. Solusi yang pertama adalah saya memberikan pujian ketika siswa mengerjakan latihannya sendiri. Solusi yang kedua adalah ketika mengajar saya memakai humor yang

berhubungan dengan topik yang saya ajarkan. Solusi ketiga adalah saya mengajarkan matematika menggunakan permainan. Solusi yang saya pilih untuk menanggulangi masalah yang dihadapi siswa ini adalah

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APPENDIX B.1: TRANSCRIPTION OF THE INTERVIEW

Name of interview : Kristianto Natanael Name of responder : Dede Gusnadi Day & date of interview : Tuesday 18 June

Time : 20.15

Location : Phone Interview

Kris : Ya halo selamat malam Pak Dede?

Dede : Halo slamat malam mas.

Kris : Nah ehh gini saya mau nanya - nanya dikit ajah tentang Salman, boleh

yah pak

Dede : Ya boleh – boleh hahaha

Kris : Gini, eeee. Kita tahu ya kalo misalnya Salman itu punya masalah sama

belajar Matematikanya.

Dede : Betul sekali

Kris : Nah kira-kira penyebab dari kesulitannya Salman itu apa?

Dede : Hmmm,untuk penyebab kesulitan dalam belajar Matematika yah mas yah.

Jadi dia itu, dia pernah cerita sama saya kalo dia itu ga suka sama

Matematika tp dia lebih menyukai pelajaran yang lain gitu. Seperti

mungkin seni.

Kris : Ohh jadi salah satu dia punya kesulitan itu memang karna dia ga suka

Matematika.

Dede : Iya betul sekali.

Kris : Kalo misalnya dampak yang terjadi ketika dia mengalami kesulitan itu apa

ajah Pak?

Dede : Kalo dampaknya

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Maranatha Christian University

Dede : Efek dalam dia kesulitan belajar itu jadi nilai dia itu sering jelek mas, jd

sering anjlok. Kebetulan saya juga udah ngajar dia dari kelas 2 SD nah

waktu kelas 2 juga memang nilainya jelek.

Kris : Bukannya Mam Yenyen yang ngajar?

Dede : Ngga bukan, saya sempet ngajar dia.

Kris : Oh waktu itu bapa sempet ngajar dia.

Dede : Betul.

Kris : Ohh, trus kalo misalnya, itu kan ya memang nilainya jelek sih, nah kalo

efeknya, kalo buat temen temennya yang laen apa? Ada ga?

Dede : Untuk ke temen temennya, jadi biasa sih gini sih mas waktu di kelas.

Waktu saya lagi nerangin ato kadang saya, kan kalo Matematika itu harus

Kris : oh jadi, memang dia suka minta bantuan. Kalo saya sih liat dia, ga pernah

juga minta bantuan sama teman-temannya gtu. Eh sori maksudnya suka

minta bantuan teman-temannya gtu. Memang sebelum saya datang udah

kaya gtu?

Dede : Iyah emang udah sering dia minta bantuan ke teman-temannya.

Kris : oh dia sering gtu. Dapet tugas langsung minta bantuan ajah ke temen

temennya?

Dede : Jadi dia baca sebentar trus dia langsung minta bantuan ke teman

temannya. Jadi kadang dia ga mau usaha dulu gtu buat kerjain tugasnya.

Kris : oke kalo gtu pak terima kasih banyak sebelumnya yah pak.

Dede : Iyah sama sama yah mas yah.

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APPENDIX B.2: TRANSCRIPTION OF THE INTERVIEW

Name of interview : Kristianto Natanael

Name of responder : Salman Mohammad

Day & date of interview : Sunday 16 June

Time : 14.34

Location : Salman’s house

Kris : Nah yu, kalo menurut kamu pelajaran Matematika itu kayak gimana?

Salman : Hmm, susah.

Kris: : Susah. Ada yang laen gak?

Salman : Hmmm. Susah ajah sih.

Kris : Itung-itungannya yang susah gtu?

Salman : Itung-itungannya.

Kris : Kamu suka salah ngitung?

Salman : Iya.

Kris : Terus apa lagi selain itu?

Salman : Susah ajah sih. Aku lebih suka IPS daripada Mat.

Kris : Emang kenapa ga suka Mat?

Salman : Susah ngitungnya trus gurunya juga galak.

Kris : Maksudnya guru yang mana? Guru Mat yg sebelum sekarang ngajar kamu gtu?

Salman : Iyah yang dulu.

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APPENDIX C: EXAMPLES OF MATH GAMES

4 Great Math Games

Favorite Activities From Marilyn Burns to Try in Your Classroom

The Game of Pig (Grades 3–8)

Math concepts: This game for two or more players gives students practice with mental addition and experience with thinking strategically.

The object: to be the first to score 100 points or more.

How to play: Players take turns rolling two dice and following these rules:

1. On a turn, a player may roll the dice as many times as he or she wants, mentally keeping a running total of the sums that come up. When the player stops rolling, he or she records the total and adds it to the scores from previous rounds.

2. But, if a 1 comes up on one of the dice before the player decides to stop rolling, the player scores 0 for that round and it's the next player's turn.

3. Even worse, if a 1 comes up on both dice, not only does the turn end, but the player's entire accumulated total returns to 0.

After students have had the chance to play the game for several days, have a class discussion about the strategies they used. You may want to list their ideas and have them test different strategies against each other to try and determine the best way to play.

Two-Dice Sums (Grades 1–8)

Math concepts: Students of all ages can play this game, as long as they're able to add the numbers that come up on two dice. While younger children benefit from the practice of adding, older

students have the opportunity to think about the probability of the sums from rolling two dice. The object: to remove all the counters in the fewest rolls possible.

How to play: Two or more players can play. Each player needs 11 counters, a game strip that lists the numbers from 2 to 12 spaced far enough apart so the counters can fit on top of each number, and a recording sheet. Here are the rules for playing:

1. Each player arranges 11 counters on the game strip and records the arrangement. 2. Once the counters are arranged, players take turns rolling the dice.

3. For each roll, all players can remove one counter if it is on the sum rolled. Players keep track of the number of rolls of the dice it takes to clear their game board.

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Have them write about the arrangements that are best for removing the counters in the fewest number of rolls. For an extension, try Which Number Wins?

Which Number Wins? (Grades 1–8)

Math concepts: In this individual activity, students roll two dice and record the results. Make a recording sheet that is an 11 x 12 block grid with the numbers 2 through 12 across the top. While young children gain practice with addition facts, older children can examine the data, compare results with other classmates, and think about why some sums are more likely than others. To do the activity, students need two dice and a recording sheet.

The object: to roll the dice and record the number fact in the correct column, stopping when one number gets to the finish line.

How to play: Post a class chart that lists the numbers from 2 to 12 and have students make a tally mark to show the winning sum. Have each child do the experiment at least twice.

After you've collected the data, discuss with the class why it seems that some sums "win" more than others. Young children may not be able to explain it, but older students often figure out that there is only one way to get the sums of 2 and 12, and six ways to get a sum of 7.

After discussing the data, return to the game of Two-Dice Sums and see if students revise their strategies. You may want to ask students to write about the game and the likelihood of two-dice sums.

How Long? How Many? (Grades 3–5)

Math skills: This two-person game involves probability and strategy, and gives children experience with multiplication in a geometric context.

The object: to make rectangular arrays with Cuisenaire Rods and place them on 10-by-10-centimeter grids until no more space is available. The game encourages students to think strategically as they consider where to place their rectangles to avoid being blocked.

How to play: students need Cuisenaire Rods, one die, and a grid sheet for each (Make a 10cm x 10cm grid. Also leave space for students to record how many of their squares are covered and uncovered.) The rules are:

1. On his or her turn, a player rolls the die twice to determine which Cuisenaire Rods to take. The first roll tells "how long" a rod to use. The second roll tells "how many" rods to take.

2. Players arrange their rods into a rectangle, place it on their grid, and trace it. They write the multiplication sentence inside.

3. The game is over when one player can't place a rectangle because there's no room on the grid. Then players figure out how many of their squares are covered and how many are uncovered and check each other's answers.

After students have had experience playing the game, talk with them about strategies for placing rectangles and figuring out their final scores.

Source: “4 Great Math Games.” Teachers. 2013. Scholastic. 20 June 2013

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1 Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

This term paper discusses a problem that I experienced when I did my

internship at SD Bestari Utami Garut, as a teacher assistant for the third

grade, from 4 January 2013 to 8 February 2013. During the internship I

found a student who had a difficulty in learning Math lessons. I choose

this problem to be the topic of this term paper because learning Math is

important to help him learn new Math concepts later, as stated by Hiebert

and Carpenter, “Students learn new mathematical concepts and

procedures by building on what they already know. In other words,

learning with understanding can be viewed as making connections or

establishing relationships either within existing knowledge or between

existing knowledge and new information” (qtd. in Yetkin par. 7). Thus, if

the student has difficulty in learning, he does not have the knowledge or

does not understand mathematical concepts now, then he will find

difficulty in learning new lessons in Mathematics in the future.

Based on my experience teaching Math in the third grade, one of the

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difficulty in learning Math. As stated in “Understanding Math Learning

Problems”, one of the characteristics of students who have a problem in

learning Math is they“rely on assistance from others to complete tasks

such as worksheets” (par. 2). In every meeting, when I explained the

lessons, the student could not do his exercises, and he always asked his

classmates to help him with his exercises. Another characteristic of

students who have learning Math problems as stated in “Understanding

Math Learning Problems” is memory problem. It is stated in the article that

“Memory deficits play a significant role in these students' math learning

problems” (par. 4). Several times during my internship, when I explained a

lesson, the student did not understand the lesson. Then, after class, I

explained the lesson to him again. I gave him exercises, and he could do

the exercises well which meant he finally understood the lesson on that

day. However, two days later, when I gave him the same exercises, he

could not do the exercises, and he told me that he forgot the steps to solve

the Math problem in the exercises.

From this observation, I concluded that the student had difficulty in

learning Math lessons. I would like to analyze the problem systematically

in this term paper.

B. Identification of the Problem

I would like to analyze the problem to answer the following questions:

1. Why did the student have difficulty in learning Math lessons?

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his study and the other students in the class?

3. How can the teacher help the student to overcome his difficulty in

learning Math lessons ?

C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study

The objectives of the study are to analyze causes and effects of the

problem. After that, the study is to find the potential solutions for the

problem, and then find the best solution to solve the problem.

There are some benefits for SD Bestari Utami as the institution where

the internship took place, the readers, and me as the writer. The benefits

for SD Bestari Utami is the teachers there can get ideas to help students

who have difficulty in learning Math lessons. The benefits for me as the

writer is I get the knowledge aboutthe causes and effects of this problem

and how to solve it. Then, I hope this research can give the readers

inspiration in helping students who have a similar difficulty.

D. Description of the Institution

Based on the information given in SD Bestari Utami’s website, SD

Bestari Utami is a school that emphasizes character education. They do

not only assess the academic ability of the students, but they also have a

desire to develop the unacademic potentials of their students, like arts and

sports. SD Bestari Utami is very different from other schools because they

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According to the website, SD Bestari Utami was founded by Christanti

Gomulia and her husband in 2009. At its inception, SD Bestari Utami was

located at Jalan Pasundan No. 45 Garut, but in 2012, SD Bestari Utami

moved to Jalan Cimaragas Garut. Ms. Christanti Gomulia saw that to get

the best quality of education for their children, parents have to pay big

amount of money. Thus, she founded this school to give good quality of

education for students without having to pay big amount of money. In

founding this school, she wanted that her students have global thinking to

accept the differences in religion, ethnicity, and culture.

E. Method of the Study

For my term paper, the data that are collected to support the analysis

are from field research and library research. For field research, I use the

data from my internship journal that records my internship experience, and

I also did some interviews. For library research, I read several books and

some articles from the Internet to find some theories for my analysis. The

data are used to analyze the causes, effects, and the potential solutions.

F. Limitation of the Study

The study is based on my experience as a teacher assistant for the

third grade students of SD Bestari Utami from 4 January 2013 to 8

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learning Mathematics lessons experienced by one of the students in the

class.

G. Organization of the Term Paper

This Term paper starts with the Abstract, Declaration of Originality, and

Table of Content. Then it is divided into four chapters. In Chapter One

there are Background of the Study, Identification of the Problem,

Objectives and Benefits of the Study, Description of the Institution, Method

of the Study, Limitation of the Study, and Organization of the Term. In

Chapter Two, I analyze the causes and effects of the problem as the

Problem Analysis. After I describe the causes and effects of the problem,

in Chapter Three, I describe three potential solutions to solve the problem,

with the positive and the negative effects of each solution. Chapter Four is

the Conclusion, which discusses the best solution for my problem. For the

last part, I list the sources of all supporting theories and interview data in

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

The problem that I found during my internship is that there was a

student who had a difficulty in learning Math lessons in the third grade at

SD Bestari Utami between 4 January 2013 to 8 February 2013. The

causes of the problem are the student did not concentrate when I

explained the Math lessons, and the student did not like Math. There are

several effects of the problem. The effects are some students who sat

near the student who had difficulty in learning Math could not complete

their exercises, and the student got low scores in quizzes. I did a research

to solve my problem, and I found some potential solutions as written in

Chapter Three. The first potential solution is I will give praises when the

student does his exercises by himself. The second is I will use humors

related with the topic that I teach. The last potential solution is I teach the

Math lessons using games.

Based on the analysis, to solve the problem, I will combine all of the

potential solutions to get the best solution for this problem. I choose to

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other. If I only give praises when the student does his exercises by

himself, he will get good scores on the quizzes, but if I combine the first

potential solution with using humors related with the topic in teaching, it is

possible that the student will get higher scores on the quizzes. Then, if I

only use humors related with the topic that I teach, the student will feel

bored with the humors, but if I combine this potential solution with using

games in teaching the lessons, the student will not be bored. Furthermore,

if I only use games to teach Math lessons, the games can make negative

competition in the class, but if I also give praises when the student does

his exercises, I will have a good relationship with the student, then with a

good relationship with the student, I can advise him that negative

competition in the class is not good. I can also try this with other students

in order to avoid negative competition.

Thus, the combination of these solutions will help the student to

overcome his difficulty in learning Math. I hope, if there are people who

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Personal Interviews

Gusnadi, Dede. Telephone interview. 8 June 2013.