THE EFFECT OF LEARNING MATERIALS BASED ON JOYFUL PROBLEM BASED LEARNING TOWARDS STUDENTS MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING ABILITY

The implementation of learning materials developed based on Joyful Problem Based Learning (JPBL) has been carried out from March to July 2016. The subject of the research is 8 grade students at Public Junior High School (PJHS) 27 Medan, PJHS 1 Percut, and PJHS 7 Pematangsiantar. The data was collected by 5 essay test given at the beginning and at the end of all learning process. Then data was analyzed using t-test Independent. The results showed there was the improvement of the students’ mathematical understanding ability (MUA) at all school included in this research. Some aspects of MUA in this study include the ability to connect and represent problem in various ways. The achievement of students in these two aspects are quite balanced with a mediocre category. It is recommended to teachers to use this learning materials which is developed based on JPBL in order to get the students ability in MUA.