UNM INTERNATIONAL PROCEEDING

Name of Conference……
ISBN:

DESCRIPTION OF UNDERSTANDING THE ABILITIES IN

MATHEMATICS CONCEPTS OF FRACTION IN SECOND GRADE
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Nur Azizah Rezki Putri1*, Hamzah Upu2, Alimuddin3
1,2,3
Mathematics Education Master’s Program, Makassar State University, Makassar, Indonesia
Email: azizahp34@gmail.com1, hamzahupu@gmail.com2, Alimuddin@unm.ac.id3

Abstract
This study aims to determine the abilities to understand students' mathematical concepts in fractional.
This research is a descriptive research with a qualitative approach. The subjects were selected based on
data on students’ concept comperehension ability and recommendations from mathematics teachers with
one high ability student, one medium ability student and one low ability student. The instruments used in
this study were a concept understanding test and interview guidelines. The results showed that students
who had high abilities met the four indicators of understanding concepts in fractional, namely being able
to interpret images and state in the form of fractions (interpreting), able to give examples in the form of
images (exemplifying), able to classify types of fractions (classifying) and able to compare fractions.
Students who have moderate abilities fulfill four indicators of understanding mathematical concepts in
fractional material, namely being able to interpret images and state in the form of fractions (interpreting),
able to give examples of fractions in the form of images (exemplifying), able to classify the types of
fractions (classifying) and able to compare fraction (comparing). Meanwhile, students who have low
abilities only fulfill two indicators of understanding mathematical concepts in fractional material, namely
being able to interpret images and express in fractions (interpreting) and able to give examples of
fractions in the form of images (exemplifying).

Keywords: Understanding Mathematical Concept, Fractions.

INTRODUCTION
Mathematics is a science that is organized systematically in a logical sequence of sequences
(Rismawati & Hutagaol, 2018). An important idea in Mathematics education is to create a teaching
and learning environment that allows students to learn with understanding (Gulkilik, Moyer-
Packenham, Ugurlu, & Yuruk, 2020). According to Resta (Yufentya, Roza, & Maimunah, 2019)
mathematics with regard to ideas, logical thought processes, deductive thinking patterns and various
concepts arranged systematically. In mathematics learning, students' ability to understand
mathematical concepts is strongly emphasized (Yanti, Nindiasari, & Ihsanuddin, 2020). Understanding
concepts is very important for students to have so that the student's learning process is not just
memorizing formulas and giving practice questions, if students only memorize concepts but are not
able to relate concepts to other concepts, the learning process and results will not be meaningful
(Yufentya et al., 2019). Therefore, an update in the learning design is needed so that students easily
understand the mathematical concepts being studied (Fajar, Kodirun, Suhar, & Arapu, 2019).

Understanding is essential for overall mathematics learning (Torbeyns, Schneider, Xin, & Siegler,
2015). Understanding is defined as the absorption of meaning from a material being studied (A’zima,
Roza, & Maimunah, 2019). According to Susanto (Kartika, 2018) understanding is a process that
consists of the ability to explain and interpret something, is able to provide a broader and more
adequate picture, example and explanation and is able to provide a more creative description and
explanation, while a concept is something that is depicted in the mind, a thought, an idea, or an
understanding. So that students are said to have the ability to understand mathematical concepts if able
to give an example and not an example of the concept (Fadzillah, 2016) they can formulate solving

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strategies, apply simple calculations, use symbols to present concepts, and change other forms such as
fractions in mathematics (Kartika, 2018). Therefore, the understanding of mathematical concepts
involves the introduction of when an idea can be applied and how it can be seen in various
representations (van Garderen, Lannin, & Kamuru, 2020).

In line with this opinion, students are said to understand concepts in mathematics learning if they are
able to meet the indicators of understanding concepts. The indicator of understanding mathematical
concepts is being able to interpret (interpreting), able to give example (exemplifying), able to classify
(classifying), able to mention an overview (summarizing), able to compare (comparing) and able to
explain (explaning).

One of the learning materials that must be mastered by junior high school students is fractions. The
concept of fractions in everyday life must have been applied, both consciously and unconsciously. The
concept of fractions in Education in reality still does not show satisfactory results. Many students do
not develop an understanding of fractions, one of which is fractional multiplication (Simon, Kara,
Norton, & Placa, 2018). Understanding fractions is essential for mathematics learning, it requires not
only a deeper understanding of numbers than is usually obtained through experience with integers, but
also predictive for students' mathematical achievement years later (Torbeyns et al., 2015).

Based on the results of research observations and interviews with mathematics teachers at one of the
secondary schools in Gowa district, in learning fractional material there are still many students who do
not know the types of fractions, it is difficult to complete fractional operations, especially addition and
subtraction of fractions if the denominators are different. As a result of this, the daily assessment
results only nine students obtained good results. This is because students do not understand the
concept of fractional material, as a result, if given various questions, students will have difficulty
solving them. Conceptual knowledge of fractions, then, must consist of both general principles about
fractions, as well as knowledge of which principles underlie procedures for comparing or operating on
them (Geller, Son, & Stigler, 2017).

Some previous research that has been done a lot with the aim of knowing the ability to understand
students' concepts as well as the research carried out by W. Eggy Yufentya, Yenita Roza, dan
Maimunah (2017) it is obtained that students who are highly capable have a good understanding of
concepts because they have reached more than 50% for each indicator. Meanwhile, students with
medium and low abilities have a poor understanding of the concept because the results obtained are
less than 50% for each indicator. Then the research conducted by Ayu Putri Fajar (2019) students who
have high abilities can complete six questions which means that the student has mastered six
indicators of concept understanding, students who have moderate abilities can solve six questions
which means that the student has mastered six indicators of understanding concepts, while students
who have low ability can solve four questions which means that the student has mastered four
indicators understanding of concepts. However, there have been no studies that try to describe
students' conceptual comprehension abilities in fractional material. The difference between this study
and the previous research is that this study focuses on describing the concept understanding ability of
grade VIII junior high school students on fractional material for each indicator so that it can be known
on which indicators students have not been mastered by students.

METHOD

This research uses a descriptive type of research with a qualitative approach. With the purpose of the
study to describe of understanding the abilities in mathematics concepts of fraction in second grade
junior high school. The selection of subjects in this study was obtained from the value of the report
card as an initial ability. The initial ability data is used to group students into three, namely students
with high, medium and low abilities.

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Then three students were obtained as subjects, namely one student with high understanding, one
student with moderate understanding and one student with low understanding with consideration of
learning outcomes and recommendations from subject teachers. The instruments used in this study
were tests of ability to understand mathematical concepts and interviews. In this study, the type of
triangulation used was a triangulation method by comparing the data from the document examination
results with the data from the interview results.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Result

Data collection activities were carried out on grade VIII.3 students of SMP Negeri 2 Sungguminasa by
choosing subjects that represented each category of high, medium and low abilities. After the subjects
are selected, the three subjects are given a concept understanding test. The concept comprehension test
questions contain questions based on indicators of understanding mathematical concepts.

Then proceed to the next stage, namely interviews with the three subjects to obtain deeper information
about students' understanding of concepts according to the answers written by students in the concept
understanding test. Based on the data from the results of test answers and interviews, the indicators of
understanding mathematical concepts in fractional material mastered by the three subjects are
indicator one (able to interpret images and express in the form of fractions (interpreting) and the
second indicator (able to give examples of fractions in the form of images (exemplifying).

Discussion

1. Ability to Understand Mathematical Concepts of High Category Subjects (HCS)

Based on the results of tests and interviews, High Category Subjects (HCS) are able to master
four indicators of concept understanding, namely: being able to interpret images and expressing
in the form of fractions (interpreting), able to give examples of fractions in the form of images
(exemplifying), able to classify the types of fractions (classifying), able to compare fractions
(comparing). Meanwhile, the indicators that have not been met are able to mention the
characteristics and types of fractions (summarizing) in the answers to the HCS subject concept
understanding test, only write down the types of fractions and examples without providing an
explanation of the types of fractions, then during the interview HCS was unable to explain what
pure and impure fractions look like. Furthermore, for indicators, they are able to express the
meaning of fractions (imferring) in test answers and HCS interviews, only write "fractions, which
are numbers consisting of numerators and denominators". and for indicators to be able to
reconstruct or re-explain the cause and effect (explaning) of the HCS only write down the reasons
as stated in the notion of fractions.

2. Ability to Understand Mathematical Concepts of Medium Category Subjects (MCS)

Based on the results of tests and interviews, Subjects of the Medium category are able to master
four indicators of understanding concepts, namely being able to interpret images and expressing
in the form of fractions (interpreting), being able to give examples of fractions in the form of
images (exemplifying), being able to classified types of fractions (classifying), being able to
compare fractions (comparing). While the indicators of understanding the concept that are still
not met are able to mention the characteristics and types of fractions (summarizing), MCS in tests
and interviews are not able to explain the types of fractions only write down examples of the
types of fractions. Then the indicator is able to state the meaning of fractions (imferring) only
writes "fractions are numbers consisting of numerators and denominators" the subject does not
write down completely and clearly the meaning of fractions, is able to reconstruct or re-explain

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(explaning), credits on tests and interviews suggest that is a fraction because it has a
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numerator and denominator.

3. Ability to Understand Mathematical Concepts of Low Category Subjects (LCS)

Based on the test results and interviews of Low Category Subjects (LCS), mastering only two
indicators, namely being able to interpret images and expressing in the form of fractions
(interpreting), being able to give examples of fractions in the form of images (exemplifying).
While the indicator of understanding the concept that is still unmet is able to classified the types
of fractions (classifying), LCS on the test is only able to classified ordinary types of fractions.
LCS can’t to classified other fractions because it does not know the types of fractions. Then for
questions that contain indicators able to mention the characteristics and types of fractions
(summarizing) LCS does not write down the answer at all. Then the indicator is able to state the
meaning of fractions (imferring) LCS suggests that fractions are numbers that have numerators
and denominators. Then the indicator is able to state the meaning of fractions (imferring) LCS
suggests that fractions are numbers that have numerators and denominators. Then the question
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containing the indicator is able to reconstruct or re-explaning in its answer LCS stated that
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fraction without providing a causal explanation why LCS states the number is a fraction.

The limitations in this study were when the concept understanding test was given by visiting the
homes of students who were subjects due to the Covid-19 pandemic, students did not carry out
learning at school.

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Conclusions
This study aims to determine the understanding of students' mathematical concepts in the fraction
material. In its implementation, a concept understanding test is given then followed by an interview
stage to find out more about the level of students' conceptual understanding. The indicators of
understanding concepts mastered by the three subjects are the first indicator, being able to interpret
images and expressing them in the form of fractions (interpreting) and the second indicator, being able
to give examples of fractions in the form of images (exemplifying). However, because this research
was carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic, students did not carry out learning at school as a result,
researchers had difficulty administering concept understanding tests for the three subjects.

Suggestions
The suggestions for teachers are to pay attention to how students understand the concepts being taught
and familiarize students with working on math problems related to the application of the concepts
taught as exercises in order to improve students' abilities in solving various mathematical problems.
For further research, it should be developed further as an effort to improve the quality and quality of
education.

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