Characteristics of Students’ Sensory Mathematical Imagination in HOTS-Based Problem Solving

Abstract

Sensory mathematical imagination is the mathematical thinking power to imagine and create ideas and send impulses from the senses to the central nervous system in the brain. Students' sensory mathematical imagination can be seen through the emergence of ideas based on perceptions such as problem stimulation. This study aims to determine the characteristics of students’ sensory mathematical imagination in solving problems based on High Order Thinking Skill (HOTS). This study is a qualitative study involving participants in the 8th grade of junior high school. The test instrument used was HOTS-based questions to determine the characteristics of students’ sensory imaginations consisting of four questions. Triangulation is used to ensure the accuracy of the data, the type of triangulation used was the triangulation of observation methods, questionnaires, student answers, and interview results. The characteristics of sensory mathematical imagination that emerged from the 4 participants understood the problem as a whole, explored the information contained in the problem, carried out physical activities, described the overall information obtained, and obtained the appropriate stimulus in the form of a problem which then became a perception to become an idea to solve the problem.