IDENTIFIKASI KESULITAN MAHASISWA DALAM MENYELESAIKAN SOAL FISIKA MATEMATIKA 1 DI JURUSAN FISIKA UNIVERSITAS NEGERI PADANG

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, the interest of the students to Mathematical Physics 1 course is declining. The prominent factor which causes this situation was the difficulty of the students to solve the problems of that course. This research gave descriptions of real conditions which was experienced by the students while they were studying Mathematical Physics 1, e.g.The obstacles of the students when they solved the several questions of Mathematical Physics 1, How much the percentages of the students who undergone those difficulties, and then what factors that can be agent of these problems. The type of the research was descriptive qualitative research which had a sample of 118 physics department students who took this course. According to the data and the result of analysis, had been obtained approximately 58.1% of students had restrictions to solve questions on the test. This fact means this factor had a moderate influence of theobstacles. The other fences came from within of the students, for example; less motivation (26.8%), lazybones (did not do or solve more problems on the handout. 14.4%), and less ability used the principle of mathematics (21.6%). Furthermore, the factors originated from the preparation in the first meeting and learning activities were not the main factor of those obstacles. Therefore, there was a high correlation between the students’ difficulties and their learning outcome (r = - 0,987).

Keywords: Mathematical Physics 1, Learning Difficulties, Problem Solving, Descriptive Research