PROFILE OF UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ MATHEMATICAL CONCEPT ON TRIGONOMETRY BASED ON GRASHA RIECHMANN’S LEARNING STYLE

Abstract

Understanding mathematical concepts is the ablitiy of students to accept material in the form of mathematical concepts and then can restate the concept, can use, utilize, an choose certain procedurs or operations in determaining a concept, and apply the concept in solving mathematical problems. Trigonometry is one of the subjects in mathematics that students’ understanding of concepts is still low. The process of understanding mathematical concepts can be seen from the learning styles that each student has. Grasha Riechman's learning style is the tendency of students to think and interact with each other in various learning environments and various experiences in the process of gaining new knowledge.  The purpose of this study is to describe the profile of students’ understanding of mathematical concepts in trigonometry based on Grasha-Riechman’s learning style. Grasha-Reichman learning style consist of independent, dependent, collaborative, competitive, contributive/participant, and avoidant. This study uses qualitative approach and this type of this study in descriptive qualitative. Data collection techniques used in this study were written test and interviews. Data analysis techniques used are data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions.. The subject of this study were each one student from the existing Grasha Riechmann’s learning style type.  The results show that Students who have a dependent and competitive learning style have ability to restate a concept, present concept in various mathematical representations, use or choose certain procedures in determining a concept, and apply concepts in completing mathematical problems. Students who have independent and collaborative learning style have the ability to restate a concept, present concepts in various mathematical representations, and use or choose certain procedures in determining a concept, but the have not been able to apply the concept to solving mathematical problems. Student who have avoidant learning style have the ability to present concept in various mathematical representations and use or choose procedures in determining a concept, but this student have not been able to restate a concept and apply the concept to solving mathematical problems. Student who have participant learning style only have the ability to present concepts in various mathematical representations, this student have not been able to restate a concept, use or choose procedures in determining a concepts, and apply the concept in solving mathematical problems.Keywords: Understanding mathematical concept, Trigonometry, Grasha Riechman's learning style