Are students having trouble solving problems polyhedron?

Abstract

Abstract The ability to solve problems is not only needed in school learning, but also to solve problems in daily life. One of the problems that cannot be separated from daily life is related to space objects such as tables, cabinets, bottles, balls, houses, and others. Mathematics is a lesson’s school that addresses these problems, especially regarding (to) polyhedrons. The purpose of this study is to describe the difficulties of students in solving problems related to polyhedrons. The difficulties are classified based on Newman’s Error Procedure (NEP). The research method used is a case study. The respondents of this study were middle school students of class IX (ninth grade of middle school). Data collection is done through tests and interviews. Validity is measured based on the Aiken index with a score of 0.82 which mean it is very valid. The difficulties are analyzed descriptively by observing the students’ errors in answering test questions. The results showed that about 8% of students had difficulty in reading error, 13% of students had difficulty in comprehension error, 21% of students had difficulty in transformation error, 49% of students had difficulty process skills error, and 71% of students had difficulty in encode error. It is known several factors that cause these errors so that some solutions can be obtained by the teacher to overcome these errors.