Is functional skills mathematics approach relevant to stimulate students’ mathematical problem solving?

Abstract

Abstract This study described the stimulation structure of problem-solving skills obtained by students who were taught mathematics using functional skills mathematics approach. A descriptive exploratory qualitative approach was used to examine the students’ stimulation structure. Participants included three students from different level of mathematics ability in the second semester students of mathematics education program at Universitas Serang Raya. The data gained from the students’ problem-solving working collaborated with in-depth interviews focused on the students’ thinking refers to the functional skills mathematics completeness indicator. Exploration results showed the percentage of stimulation for each student of high, moderate and low mathematics ability are 81.8%, 54.5% and 36.7%. The relevance of the implementation of the functional skills mathematics approach was explained in more detail in the discussion.