The effectiveness of test instrument to improve mathematical reasoning ability of mathematics student

Abstract

Mathematical reasoning ability is one of the most important abilities mastered by students. Students must be accustomed to working on high order thinking skills to hone their reasoning skill in solving problems. Therefore, this study aims to develop a standardized test that has undergone a qualitative and quantitative analysis process. As for the specific purpose of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of standard test developed. The test development used The Thiagarajan, Semmel, and Semmel models, namely the 4-D model (define, design, develop, disseminate) with 29 first semester mathematics students as the research subject and the test instrument to improve students' mathematical reasoning ability as the object. The instruments used were tests and questionnaires. The legibility test results by distributing questionnaires obtained that students gave a positive response to the questions tested. From field trial, it can be seen that the average student is in the "quite well" category. The results of questionnaires and tests show that the tests developed are effective to measure students' mathematical reasoning ability on the topics of Linear Equation System (LES) and matrix. Thus, this test is standard and suitable for use by lecturers in classroom learning.