An Analysis of Mathematical Connection Ability of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI) Teachers as Seen from Teaching Style

Abstract

Many mathematics teachers hardly implement mathematical connections during the learning process. Only a few teachers can link mathematics to other topics, disciplines, or real life. As a result, the learning process gets stuck easily. The objectives of this research are: (1) to know the mathematical connection ability of teachers; (2) to analyze the mathematical connection capability of teachers seen from teaching style; (3) to find out the differences of teachers’ mathematical connection capability seen from teaching style. Concurrent triangulation was adopted as a research design in which the qualitative and quantitative research was simultaneously done. The cluster random sampling was adopted in which participants were all teachers in Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Eks Karesidenan Surakarta (Islamic Elementary School of Eks Karesidenan Surakarta). There are some important findings. 1) The mathematical connection ability of the teachers was at a low level in terms of other topics or crossed-topic connections while it was on the average level in relation to other disciplines and the real and daily life. 2) Seen from teaching styles, the teachers’ mathematical connection ability was on a low level in terms of cross-topics connection as (classical, technological, personalization, and interactional) while their mathematical connection ability to other disciplines (classical, technological, personalization, and interactional) and daily life (classical, technological, personalization, and interactional) was in a medium level. 3). Those four teaching styles reviews highlighted that there was no different ability of mathematical connections as seen from the teaching style