The Influence of Cognitive Style on Mathematical Communication of Prospective Math Teachers in Solving Problems

Abstract

Communication is important to connect with others. It is one of the important aspects that must be mastered by the prospective math teacher as a tool of knowledge transfer. They are expected to have good mathematical communication skills to facilitate them in the mathematics learning process. Problem-solving in learning mathematics is something that cannot be ignored. Through problem-solving, students can have a better understanding of concepts because through mathematical problem solving, and students are required to be more active in using the concepts they have in a variety of new situations encountered. FD/FI cognitive style is the extent to which a person perceives parts of a field discrete from the surroundings rather than embedded in it as a whole. Based on differences from cognitive style, it certainly affects the way of communication, especially mathematical communication. So, the aim of this research was exploration the mathematical communication of prospective math teacher in solving problem viewed from FI/FD cognitive style. This type of research was descriptive research with a qualitative approach. The subjects of this research were 86 prospective math teachers. Data were collected through tests, assignments, and task-based interviews. The results of this study indicated that mathematical communication from FD and FI students were not different when solving routine problems, but were different when solving non-routine problems, which require strategy and decision making. FD students had difficulty communicating their strategies clearly and coherently. Meanwhile, FI students explained the strategies they used in more detail.