Creative thinking skill of junior high school students in solving mathematical pattern problems based on sex

Abstract

The problem and the aim of the study. Nowadays, in the era of digital technology, the ability to think creatively is one of the abilities that students must have. One of these abilities can be developed through learning mathematics. The problem so far is that students' creative thinking abilities in Indonesia have not shown optimal results. To justify this, it is necessary to study the ability to think creatively by looking at the gender aspect of students. So far, many people believe that gender does not affect a person's thinking ability in solving math problems, even though many studies show that women are more patient, precise, and more structured in their thinking. This study aims to determine creative thinking skills in solving mathematical pattern problems based on sex in grade 8 students of Junior High School. Research methods. This research is qualitative research with a descriptive approach. The subjects of this study were 8th-grade junior high school students in Madiun, East Java, Indonesia, which consisted of 2 female students and two male students. The main instrument in this research is the researcher himself. In addition, the instrument is assisted by tests of creative thinking skills and interviews. The indicators of creative thinking in this study are fluency, flexibility, and novelty. Results. The results showed that male subjects were able to fulfill all indicators of creative thinking, namely fluency by answering question number one by providing six alternative answers, flexibility by answering question number two by providing four ways of completion, and novelty by giving answers in new ways or different from other students. Female subjects are only able to meet two indicators of creative thinking, namely fluency by answering question number one by providing three alternative answers and flexibility by answering question number two by describing two ways of solving, and unable to meet the indicator of novelty because it does not provide new or different ways with other students. In conclusion, based on research, it was found that male subjects could fulfill all indicators of creative thinking. In contrast, female subjects could only complete two indicators of creative thinking. This shows that male students have better mathematical creative thinking skills than female students. In addition, this study also indicates that the ability to think creatively mathematically is influenced by the sex of the students.