Indonesia Not Good at Counting, Math Considered as Magic

Indonesia Tak Cakap Berhitung karena Matematika Dianggap Sulap, https://tirto.id/dacn

Indonesia Not Good at Counting,

Math Considered as Magic

The Declaration of the National Movement for the Eradication of Mathematical Blindness held on Saturday (15/11) shows a concerning number of people over the poor results of several tests of mathematics understanding of Indonesian students. As a result of the test, Indonesia is called a nation that is blind to mathematic.

The result of the Indonesian National Assessment Program (INAP) by the Education Assessment Center of the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) shows that most of the 4th-grade elementary school (SD) students in Indonesia are less proficient in mathematical literacy. Only 2.29 percent of students are in a good category, while 20.58 are in an average category. Whereas students who are less proficient in mathematical literacy cover 77.13 percent.

Not only those who are in elementary school, but adult Indonesians are also less capable of arithmetic.

The Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) conducted by Rand Corporation in 2000, 2007, and 2014 measured basic numeracy skills for Indonesians aged 7-28 years. IFLS offers two forms of tests: Test A for respondents aged 7-14 years and Test B for respondents aged over 15 years. 

In each of these tests, according to their age, respondents were asked to answer simple math problems for grade 1 elementary school (e.g., how much is 49-23?) to 5 elementary schools (e.g., how much interest is 5 percent of Rp. 75,000?).

As a result, not all respondents in a certain age range answered all the calculation questions correctly. In addition, the percentage of respondents who answered the test correctly at school age did not differ much from more mature respondents. 

For the question "How much is 49 minus 23?", those who have the highest percentage of correct answers are respondents aged 15 years (82.7 percent). While the percentage of respondents aged 28 years who answered the question correctly was less than 80 percent. 

"From grade 1 to grade 12, the increase in mathematical ability is very small or tends to be flat. Going to school does not mean the child is studying. That is the finding of the problem," said Niken Rarasati, a researcher in education at The SMERU Research Institute, to Tirto after the declaration.

On the other hand, the declaration of the National Movement for the Eradication of Mathematics Illiteracy indicates that there are not many people who care about education, especially mathematics, in Indonesia. At the University of Indonesia's (UI) Old Library Building, teachers, researchers, and education observers gathered to discuss teaching methods that could alleviate math illiteracy. 

"The public has grasped the perception that mathematics is difficult, including parents. Even children [have] anxiety [about it]," said former Deputy Minister of Education Fasli Jalal to Tirto.

According to Fasli, mathematics can be taught in a fun way: teaching mathematics through concrete things, through things that students encounter in their daily lives. For Fasli, this method can make mathematics seem more fun to learn.

"For example, before writing '10' people, it's better [the teacher] gather ten people. From there, [students know that] oh this is ten. Then, if you subtract two, it means that two people left. It's just a matter of counting. So, it's not there needs to be a symbol. Things like this can be done," said Fasli. 

Dhitta Puti Sarasvati, an education researcher, based at Sampoerna University, said the adults around children influence them. Eradication of math illiteracy does not mean forcing children to learn mathematics but encouraging parents and schools to create a conducive environment so that children can learn mathematics in a fun way. 

"I believe that Indonesian children have potential. But do adults facilitate their development of mathematics? Not necessarily. Because sometimes mathematics becomes scary for them," said Dhitta.

Math Is Not Magic
The findings of the National Movement for the Eradication of Mathematical Illiteracy appear to resemble the critique of mathematics from Hungarian philosopher Imre Lakatos.

In Proofs and Refutations (1976), Lakatos describes the Euclidean methodology (Euclid is an Ancient Greek philosopher who pioneered geometrical mathematics), directing mathematics to be presented in standard ways Lakatos calls the deductive style. 

"This style begins with a difficult list of axioms, lemmas, and/or definitions. Axioms and definitions often seem artificial and confusing. One is never told how the details came about. After the list of axioms and definitions, comes the carefully written theorem. the severity of the condition; it seems unlikely that anyone has ever invented it. Then, the theorem is followed by proof," said Lakatos. 

As a result, mathematics is like magic. Students are required to accept teaching without being given the opportunity to dialogue about the assumptions that underlie the explanation. The deductive style hides adventure. The whole story behind the formula disappeared.

However, Brian Hudson, Sheila Henderson, and Alison Hudson, in "Developing Mathematical Thinking in the Primary Classroom: Liberating Students and Teachers as Learners of Mathematics" (2014), write that the deductive approach that dominates mathematics teaching is problematic. However, they stated the problem was not that simple. Hudson and colleagues stated that didactic transposition is something that needs attention. 

The concept of didactic transposition relates to social context. He emphasized that mathematics is not a collection of knowledge to act on and solve problems in the environment in which it is created or used. However, it is knowledge to be taught and learned. 

Didactic transposition exists to acknowledge the existence of a rupture between everyday life and school. According to Hudson and colleagues, this fault can degrade the epistemic quality of science when it is taught in schools. 

The epistemic quality is heightened when mathematics is presented as unstable, uncertain, and refutable. This quality encourages students to think critically, to reason. 

Meanwhile, the declining epistemic quality is characterized by authoritative, dogmatic, absolute, or irrefutable mathematics. Through this quality, students are encouraged to follow procedures and limit themselves between two answers: true or false.

Educational researcher Guy Brosseau explains that through didactic transposition, teachers must be able to make mathematics according to the tastes and contexts of their students. 

Padro Palhares, in "Mathematics Education and Ethnomathematics. A Connection in Need of Reinforcement" (2012), writes that ethnomathematics can help contextualize and, in fact, make mathematics more human to learn. 

Many educational researchers in Indonesia have also studied efforts to bring students closer to mathematics by using ethnomathematics. 

Muhammad Suhadak tested the use of areca nut for arithmetic learning for students at SMP Negeri 3 Biak, Papua. Areca nut is a fruit that is used daily and is easily found in Papua. According to Suhadak's research on 40 students, which he later published in "Effectiveness of the Use of Papuan Culture-Based Media in Learning Addition and Subtraction of Integers Judging from Achievement" (2016), the average student score was 77.36 on a scale of 100. According to Suhadak, the way this is effective. 

Obviously, the classroom is not a performance arena that only makes students appear as spectators, while teachers become magicians and math is the magic.

Author: Husein Abdulsalam 

Editor: Windu Jusuf