Authors:
Reni Wahyuni
1
and
Tatang Herman
2
Affiliations:
1
Department of Mathematics Education, Universitas Islam Riau, Pekanbaru, Indonesia, Indonesia
;
2
Department of Mathematics Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia, Indonesia
Keyword(s):
Algebra, Equality, Middle School, Pre-Algebra
Abstract:
Mathematics has an essential role in education and to get employment opportunities then algebraic topics are one of the fundamental topics of efforts to reform mathematics education. Understanding algebra is related to understanding the basic concepts of equality. There are not many students understand the meaning of the equal sign. Therefore, this article is aimed to examine students’ understanding of the meaning of the equal sign in solving an equation. Knowing the students’ understanding deeply, we used this research by choosing
the qualitative method. The research carried out the 22 students, the second-semester secondary school, who have learned the material of algebraic form and its operations, the seventh grade of SMP in Pekanbaru, Riau. The data provided in this study shows that many students do not have a sophisticated understanding of the
meaning of the equal sign. Most students understand the equal sign as a result of a problem, such as solving a problem likely a count fro
m the left side to the right side. The view of the students’ misunderstanding about
the equal sign causes that the students perceive the meaning of the equal sign as the result of operations, not a symbol of mathematical equality.
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