MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING AND PRESENTATION ABILITY OF PUBLIC JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Indonesia faced the fact that the ability of mathematical problem solving ability of the students is so low. So, like other countries, Indonesia has the program to enhance this ability. The author conducted the research for the purpose of developing mathematical understanding ability (MUA) and mathematical representation ability (MRA) as the basis for problem solving. This paper described the result of a preliminary study to investigate both MUA and MRA of public junior high school (PJHS) grade 8. The population is all of the students of PJHS in Medan (North Sumatera) and Bandung (West Java). The samples are 33 students from PJHS 3 Bandung and 40 students from PJHS 27 Medan city. The techniques used for collecting data are test of MUA and MRA. Data is analysed descriptively. The research results show that the students' achievement in MUA test as well in MRA test is low.