The Reflective Thinking Elementary Student in Solving Problems Based on Mathematic Ability

Abstract

This research will explore the profile of reflective thinking in elementary students in
solving mathematical problems. Exploration carried out using Polya's catch, namely: (a)
Understanding the Problem; (b) planning a solution; (c) Resolve problems; and Re-check
settlement. Subjects taken in this study were at least 1 student in the category of high,
medium, and low mathematical abilities. The purpose of this research is to describe the
profile of reflective thinking in solving mathematical problems. Based on the results of the
study found that there are similarities in the reflective thinking profile of high and
medium-ability students, the thought profile is as follows: (a) in the step of understanding
the subject matter, having information / knowledge in his mind or data used to respond,
comes from within oneself that is , then the subject can explain what has been done; (b) in
the step of planning the mathematical problem solving of this subject category students
have information / knowledge in their minds or data used to respond, coming from within
themselves that are internal, then the subject can explain what has been done; (c) the step
of implementing the plan is the same as the step of understanding the problem and
planning to solve the mathematical problem Reflective thinking profile of students who
have low mathematical ability, namely: (a) at the stage of understanding mathematical
problems, the subject can determine what is known and asked in the given problem, but
the subject has difficulty explaining the identification of facts that have been done in
solving mathematical problems, the subject explains about understanding vocabulary,
and feel that the data in the problem is sufficient; (b) at the stage of carrying out the plan,
the subject is able to explain, compile and represent data on a given mathematical
problem, explain about how to choose operations in problem solving even though the
subject is unsure, and the subject has difficulty explaining what he has done; (c) at the
stage of implementing the plan, the subject has information about calculation skills even
though the answer is not correct. Subjects have difficulty explaining the calculation skills
that have been done when solving mathematical problems, trying to communicate ideas in
the form of symbols or images, although students have a little difficulty in describing
them, and subjects also realize there are errors when using calculation skills and
correcting them; (d) at the stage of reexamining, the subject has difficulty in explaining
whether what is obtained is close to the estimate, is reasonable and is in accordance with
the problem given