Exploration of the behavior of understanding mathematical concepts of junior high school students

Abstract

This study aims to explore the behaviour of understanding mathematical concepts of junior high school students. Six participants were taken from grade VIII students with high, medium and low ability. The method used in this research is qualitative with grounded theory approach. Five questions were given to the participants to measure students' understanding of mathematical concepts. Then students were interviewed by questions referring to behavioral aspects. All the interview processes were documented in the video. The video was transcribed and then combined with the test result to be classified into predefined rubric. Based on the analysis of video and test results, three categories of students' behaviour of understanding mathematical concepts were obtained: "instrumentalist", "semi relationalist" and "relationalist". Also found the consistency of response performed by students in each category.