Pattern Generalization Strategy from Concrete Operational Students

Abstract

Pattern generalization played an important role in the introduction of early algebra which became a bridge between arithmetic and algebra. However, there are still many students who have difficulty in generalizing patterns. The difficulty of students in generalizing patterns lies in the steps of producing general formulas. Students find it difficult to represent generalizations in the form of variables-n. In addition, students also find it difficult to justify the resulting generalization. This difficulty is experienced by concrete operational students. For this reason, this research aims to study students' concrete operational thinking processes in generalizing patterns. The results of this study provide effective learning strategy solutions for concrete operational students in generalizing patterns. This research is a qualitative research with a case study approach to junior high school students. The results indicated that concrete operational students looked patterns represented in the form of geometric drawings globally without looking the structure of the images. Concrete operational students use two strategies in generalizing patterns, namely the guess and check strategy and the explicit visual strategy