Harnessing Sociographs to Design Discussion Groups for Mathematics Learning: A Social Network Analysis Approach

Abstract

As one of the 21st-century competencies, mathematical communication ability must be achieved through interactions created between teachers and students, and among students. Discussion groups are an alternative that generates interaction between students. Currently, not many teachers design discussion groups based on communication networks. This study aims to describe the results of Social Networking Analysis in independent mathematics learning through group discussions using graph representation. This network analysis is a complete communication network analysis with a quantitative descriptive method using UCINET Ver.6. This study uses five aspects to analyze the data, namely: (1) eigenvector centrality, (2) degree centrality, (3) closeness centrality, (4) betweenness centrality, and (5) network density. The subjects of this study were 32 students at a junior high school in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, who were selected based on suggestions from the mathematics teacher.The data in this study were collected using questionnaires, observation, and interviews. Hence, the validity and reliability of each one has been examined. According to the study, 43.8% of students' independent arithmetic learning falls into the medium category. It implies that students frequently decide on study sessions with discussion partners and take the initiative to identify and arrange the answers. Based on the data, four groups were created, each with eight pupils. This study is anticipated to serve as a benchmark for other investigations into the efficacy of discussion groups created in conformity with 21st-century skills.