Students’ errors in solving the connection cluster problem: a case study on space and shape content

Abstract

The ability of Indonesia student is still low in solving space and shape problem. It shows that the student gets the difficulties in solving the connection cluster of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) particularly in space and shape content. In this study, we carried out a small-case study on analysing student error in solving space and shape problem in connection cluster problem using Newman's Error Procedure (NEP). We conducted this study for 53 students from two schools. There were three steps in carrying out this study; selecting PISA problem, answering the problem, and interview. Three problems were selected and translated to Indonesia. The students answered the problems for 15 minutes. Then the interview was conducted to clarify the student answer related to the error. It was done only for 4 students who got the difficulties and error in solving the problem. In this research, we found that most of student error was occurred in comprehension and transformation process. Therefore, only a few of students did error for process skill and encode the problem. For future study, we suggest to continue the research about the student conceptual understanding in mathematics.