STUDENTS' MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION IN SOLVING MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS THROUGH THE ETHNOMATHEMATICAL CONTEXT OF THE MBAH MAYANG MADU TOMB SITE: A COGNITIVE STYLE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Students' mathematical representation processes in ethnomathematics contexts from the perspective of cognitive styles remain underexplored, despite the extensive body of research on mathematical representation. In addition, findings from the preliminary study indicated that many students still experienced difficulties in constructing mathematical representations when solving contextual problems. These conditions highlight the need for further investigation into how students with different cognitive styles develop mathematical representations in ethnomathematics based problem solving contexts. This study aimed to describe the mathematical representation processes of female senior high school students in solving contextual geometry problems based on Field Independent (FI) and Field Dependent (FD) cognitive styles. This research employed an exploratory descriptive qualitative approach with a case study design. Two eleventh-grade female students with high mathematical ability were selected based on extreme scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT). Data were collected through a Problem-Solving Task (PST) based on the local wisdom of the Mbah Mayang Madu Tomb Site in Lamongan and semi-structured interviews, then analyzed using the Miles et al. (2014)model. Data trustworthiness was established through technique and time triangulation. The findings showed that the FI student demonstrated an efficient-symbolic representation process by independently identifying essential information (disembedding), internalizing sketches into mental imagery, and directly translating verbal information into symbolic representations. In contrast, the FD student exhibited a narrative-visual representation process by relying on verbal descriptions and external visual sketches to construct mathematical models. These findings indicate that cognitive style influences students' mathematical representation processes and should be considered in designing adaptive geometry learning integrated with local cultural contexts.

Keywords: Cognitive Style, Ethnomathematics, Field Dependent, Field Independent, Mathematical Representation, Problem Solving.