Peningkatan Kemampuan Berpikir Kreatif Siswa Melalui Pendekatan Matematika Realistik (PMR)

Abstract

This study aims to assess the augmentation of students' creative thinking skills by the application of the Realistic Mathematics approach in mathematics education, demonstrating an enhancement in student performance through this method. This study utilized a pre-experimental design featuring a single class as the experimental group that underwent the intervention, lacking a control group. The research subjects comprised students from diverse courses at MTS Hubbul Wathan Aek Nabara. Data were gathered through creative thinking ability exams conducted before and during the adoption of the Realistic Mathematics approach, together with observations made during the educational process. The study's findings demonstrated an improvement in students' creative thinking skills once the method was implemented. This progress was seen in students' ability to generate varied ideas, utilize several problem-solving strategies, and express answers in a more flexible and creative way. Moreover, student engagement in the learning process has increased. The results demonstrate that the Realistic Mathematics approach effectively improves students' creative thinking abilities in mathematics instruction. The findings indicate a substantial improvement among groups, with a one-way ANOVA revealing a F value of 234.850, degrees of freedom of 1.62, and a significance level of p < 0.001. Thus, the null hypothesis (H₀) is dismissed, and the alternative hypothesis (H₁) is affirmed, signifying that the mean increase among groups is statistically significant and not due to random variation. Thus, the Realistic Mathematics Approach (RMA) learning model surpasses conventional educational techniques in improving student performance.