Di Indonesia sendiri pengamalan filsafat dalam ilmu, khususnya matematika, masih sangat amat jarang, bahkan tidak ada! Terlebih lagi setelah menjamurnya pusat bimbingan belajar yang mengajarkan rumus-rumus praktis tanpa menyodorkan dasar pemahaman yang cukup memadai. Akhirnya ilmu hanya dipandang sebagai sesuatu yang pragmatis.

Jadi, adik-adikku, mendengar kata Filsafat Matematika jangan panik dulu. Jangan berkerut dulu dahinya, ya! Filsafat Matematika ini sangat sederhana untuk kalian pelajari. Jauh dari kerumitan konsep-konsep matematika yang ada di sekolah dasar! Filsafat Matematika di sini dapat kalian artikan: mengerti dan memahami dengan mendalam! Seru, bukan?

Jika kalian tidak memahami latar belakang suatu teori atau konsep matematika, tentu kalian hanya menghafalkan rumus. Pernahkah kalian memahami makna rumus matematika? Inilah penyebab mengapa matematika itu susah kalian pahami konsepnya.

Contoh sederhananya:

Jika kita tahu bahwa konsep perkalian adalah penjumlahan berulang, mengapa kalian harus membedakan 1 x 3 dan 3 x 1 ? Bukankah hasilnya sama saja?

Dalam filsafat matematika, kita memahaminya dengan cara mengambil perumpamaan berikut:

Samakah makna JAM EMPAT dan EMPAT JAM?

Kata pembentuknya sama, yaitu kata JAM dan kata EMPAT. Tetapi maknanya pasti berbeda jika letaknya diubah. JAM EMPAT menyatakan “pukul” empat. Sedangkan EMPAT JAM bermakna  “waktu tempuh, durasi atau lamanya suatu proses”.

Makna ini sama dengan konsep perkalian pada soal 1 x 3 dan 3 x 1, masing-masing dapat dijelaskan sebagai berikut:

1 x 3 = 3
3 x 1 = 1 + 1 + 1

Maknanya berbeda meski hasilnya sama. Coba kalian terapkan pada kehidupan sehari-hari. Jika kalian diminta dokter meminum obat dengan dosis 1 x 3 maka maknanya adalah kalian harus meminum obat tersebut 1 kali saja sebanyak 3 tablet sekaligus!

Coba dosisnya diubah menjadi 3 x 1. Makna dosis obat tersebut adalah 1 tablet diminum pagi, 1 tablet diminum siang dan 1 tablet lagi diminum malam hari.

Dosis mana yang tepat? Wah, tentunya kalian harus tanya pada dokter dan tergantung dari penyakitnya apa, bukan?

Itulah pentingnya menelusuri rahasia di balik konsep matematika. Jadi, ayo tingkatkan prestasi pelajaran matematikamu dengan belajar Filsafat Matematika!

sumber : http://www.filsafatmatematika.com/

Unlam bekerjasama dengan Balitbang Kemdikbud akan mengadakan Kontes Literasi Matematika (KLM) dan Semiloka tentang PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). KLM dilaksanakan serentak di 7 kota: Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Palembang, Medan, Makassar, dan Banjarmasin. KLM di Banjarmasin terbuka bagi siswa SMP dan MTs di Kalsel, Kaltim dan Kaltim. Sementara semiloka tentang PISA terbuka untuk umum, dosen, guru, mahasiswa, dan pejabat dinas pendidikan dan kebudayaan. Pendaftaran mulai sekarang hingga 16 November 2011 di Prodi Pendidikan Matematika FKIP Unlam atau Rektorat Unlam lantai 2 (Kantor Purek IV). Pelaksanaan KLM dan Semiloka PISA hari Sabtu, 19 November 2011.

One way to entice students to learn mathematics at home is through an online game. In the online game site there are some games (applets) that are created using Java applications. Math games are related to number theory, measurement, geometry, and algebra.

This is some website of applet that can help children to learn about math.

• http://www.walter-fendt.de/m14id/- Java Applet matematika
• http://www.ies.co.jp/math/java/- Manipula math with Java Applet
• http://www.fi.uu.nl/wisweb/en/Wiskunde Website
• http://math.hws.edu/javamath/java applet download etc
• http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Java/index.htmlfamous applet curve
• http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Math/mathematics software – applet
• http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/1000 Interactive applet java cut-the-knot
• http://www.fi.uu.nl/rekenweb/en/rekenweb- applet matematika SD
• http://oneweb.utc.edu/~Christopher-Mawata/Teaching& learning math with java

Sumber http://p4mri.net/new/?p=441

Pendaftaran beasiswa IMPoME angkatan tahun 2012 telah dibuka. Bagi sarjana pendidikan maematika dan sarjana matematika yang berminat untuk mendaftar, silakan mempersiapkan syarat-syarat sebagai berikut:

1. Mengisi aplication form dengan lengkap, download di sini: stuned_form_impome 2012

2. Mengisi CV dengan lengkap, download di sini: cv-form-neso_2012

3. Fotocopy Kartu Tanda Penduduk (KTP)

4. Pas Photo 4 x6 (1 lembar)

5. Ijazah S1

6. Transkrip nilai dengan nilai IPK minimal 3, 00

7. Sertifikat TOEFL dengan score minimal 500

8. SK CTAB (Surat Keputusan Calon Tenaga Akademik Baru) dari Rektor

Persyaratan di atas dibuat dengan rangkap 3 ( 1 asli, 2 fotokopi) menggunakan kertas A4 di bundel berdasarkan nomor urut di atas dan di jilid menggunakan plastik mika warna putih (bening).

Mohon tidak melampirkan dokumen yang tidak kami cantumkan di atas.

Semua berkas harap dikirimkan ke:

Martha Metrica, S.E

PMRI – PPPPTK IPA Bandung

Jalan Diponegoro No.12

Bandung

Telp/Fax: 022-4213950/022 -4213949

Paling lambat tanggal 31 Desember 2011, berkas sudah kami terima.

Terima kasih.

Learning to think and thinking to learn

I.    Facilitating whole-group discussions

Addressing Diversity of thinking

When there is a discussion in the classroom, consider that is differences in the ways in which students process information called extroverts and introverts. Extroverts characterized as outgoing and gregarious and tend to process and think while they are talking or they able to think out aloud. Introverts characterized as shy and taciturn and they must think carefully before speaking. Every student is likely to process aspects of both introversion and extroversion. The way that can be used by the teacher to deal with diversity in processing information is to encourage the class to work collaboratively. Teachers suggest giving quieter students more time to process their thoughts for a whole group discussing. They are expected to share their solution method or idea.

Using incorrect solution

One of the most powerful ways to make an impact in young children’s thinking is by accepting incorrect answers or ideas as a natural part of doing mathematics and pursuing them in the same ways as correct solutions. The teacher began the discussion with an incorrect solution but did not indicate her own thought about it. Rather, she used the discussion to encourage students to think more deeply about problem’s meaning. Using incorrect solution allowed the teacher to begin a discussion that would deepen children’s understanding in ways that may not had been possible had she simply asked a student to share a correct solution.

Questioning one another’s solution

The most productive discussions around mathematical ideas seem to happen in classrooms where questioning is an almost spontaneous part of the way children talk to one another about their work. At the beginning of the year teacher should model behavior by questioning students each time they share a solution method. Then she asks other students if they have additional questions. She then discusses with them the value of this questioning and how it helps everyone more deeply understand one another’s methods. Gradually, students take over this responsibility and become questioner without much prompting.

II.       Engaging with children a work

Suggesting a strategy

One of the challenges teachers face in engaging with students as they work is making those on-the-spot decision regarding students who seem to be struggling. Decisions about how to deal with students’ frustrations have lasting implications for setting a tone for doing mathematics. The teacher worked to determine what the students were thinking and encourage them to negotiate their different solutions themselves. She asked questions to solicit the students’ explanations and consistently reinforced her expectation that they must listen to one another.

Allowing time to develop understanding

When engaging with students while they work, how can teachers help students who are having difficulty in explaining their thinking or making sense of the task at hand? First, recognize that students will be working on similar problems throughout the entire year. Second, try to support children’s growing beliefs in their own ability to determine the correctness of solutions and ideas. Finally, allowing children time may suggest to them that many mathematical ideas take time to develop; they would not be problems if they did not, but not guiding students to a solution when they are struggling.

III.    Concluding remarks

Maintaining a consistent focus on thinking is not easy; it requires formal, deliberate reflections on the impact of specific instructional moves. However, by combining such analyses with a commitment to learning to thinking, we can make major strides in creating classrooms where children are willing to take risks and think their way through whatever challenges they encounter.

Jack R. Fraenkel and Norman E. Wallen

Part 1

Introduction to Research

The Nature of Research

Some Examples of Educational Concerns

-  A high school principal in San Francisco wants to improve the morale of her faculty.

-  An elementary school counselor in Boise wishes he could get more students to open up to him about their worries and problems.

-  A physical education teacher in Tulsa wonders if ability in one sport correlates with ability in other sports.

Each of the above examples, although fictional, represents a typical sort of question or concern facing many of us in education today.

Why Research Is of Value

The scientific method provides us with another way of obtaining information—information that is as accurate and reliable as we can get. Let us compare it, therefore, with some of the other ways of knowing.

Ways of Knowing

SENSORY EXPERIENCE: Sensory knowledge is undependable; it is also incomplete. The data we take in through our sense do not account for all of what we seem to feel is the range of human knowing. To obtain reliable knowledge, we cannot rely on our senses alone but must check what we think we know with other sources.

AGREEMENT WITH OTHERS: One such source is the opinions of others. Not only can we share our sensations with others, we can also check on the accuracy and authenticity of these sensations. There is great advantage to checking with others about whether they see or hear what we do. It can help us throw away what is untrue and manage our lives more intelligently by focusing on what is true.

EXPERT OPINION: There are particular individuals we should consult—expert in their field, people who know a great deal about what we are interested in finding out. All any expert can do is give us an opinion based on what he or she knows, and no matter how much this is, it is never all there is to know.

LOGIC: We also know things logically. Our intellect—our capability to reason things out—allows us to use sensory data to develop a new kind of knowledge.

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD: The general order of the scientific method is as follows:

• Identifying a problem or question
• Clarifying the problems
• Determining the information needed and how to obtain it
• Organizing the information
• Interpreting the results

Types of Research

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH: Experimental research is the most conclusive of scientific methods. Because the researcher actually establishes different treatments and then studies their effects, results from this type of research are likely to lead to the most clear-cut interpretations.

CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH: Correlational research is done to determine relationships among two or more variables and to explore their implications for cause and effect. This type of research can help us make more intelligent predictions. One would undertake this type of research to look for and describe relationships that may exist among naturally occurring phenomena, without trying in any way to change these phenomena.

CAUSAL-COMPARATIVE RESEARCH: Causal-comparative research intended to determine the cause for or the consequences of differences between groups of people. Interpretations of causal-comparative research are limited, therefore, because the researcher cannot say conclusively whether a particular factor is a cause or a result of the behavior(s) observed. Causal-comparative studies are of value in identifying possible causes of observed variations in the behavior patterns of students.

SURVEY RESEARCH: Survey research obtains data to determine specific characteristics of a group. The difficulties involved in survey research are: (1) ensuring that the questions are clear and not misleading, (2) getting respondents to answer questions thoughtfully and honestly, and (3) getting a sufficient number of the questionnaires completed and returned to enable making meaningful analysis. The big advantage of survey research is that it has the potential to provide us with a lot of information obtained from quite a large sample of individuals.

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH: The emphasis in this type of research is on documenting or portraying the everyday experiences of individuals by observing and interviewing them and relevant others.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH: In this type of research, some aspect of the past is studied, either by reading documents of the period or by interviewing individuals who lived during the time. The researcher then attempt to reconstruct as accurately as possible what happened during that time and to explain why it did.

ACTION RESEARCH: Action research differs from all the preceding methodologies. Action researchers (teachers or other education professionals) focus on getting information that will enable them to change condition in a particular situation in which they are personally involved. Commonly used terms in action research are participants or stakeholders, reflecting an intent to involve them directly in the research process as part of “the research team.”

General Research Types

Descriptive Studies describe a given state of affairs as fully and carefully as possible. In educational research, the most common descriptive methodology is the survey, as when researchers summarize the characteristics of individuals or groups or physical environments. Examples of descriptive studies in education include identifying the achievements of various groups of students; describing the behaviors of teachers, administrators, or counselors; describing the attitudes of parents; and describing the physical capabilities of schools. The description of phenomena is the starting point for all research endeavors.

Associational Research: Research that investigates relationships is often referred to as associational research. Correlational and causal-comparative methodologies are the principal examples of associational research. As useful as associational studies are, they too are ultimately unsatisfying because they do not permit researchers to “do something” to influence or change outcomes.

Intervention Studies: In intervention studies, a particular method or treatment is expected to influence one or more outcomes. Intervention studies can also contribute to general knowledge by confirming theoretical predictions. The primary methodology used in intervention research is the experiment.

QUANTITAIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

In the simplest sense, quantitative data deal primarily with numbers, whereas qualitative data primarily involve words. Quantitative and qualitative method differ in their assumptions about the purpose of research itself, methods utilized by researchers, kinds of studies undertaken, the role of the researcher, and the degree to which generalization is possible.

Critical Analysis of Research

Critical analysis of research raises basic questions about the assumptions and implications of educational research.

A Brief Overview of the Research Process

Almost all research plans include, for example, a problem statement, a hypothesis, definitions, a literature review, a sample of subjects, tests or other measuring instruments, a description of procedures to be followed, including a time schedule, and a description of intended data analyses.

DAFTAR NAMA Peserta Calon Mahasiswa IMPoME 2011

Yang Diterima Dan Akan Mengikuti Les Bahasa di Dik.Tendik

Bandung, 11 Maret 2011

Ketua Tim PMRI

R.K.Sembiring

Selamat, kepada semua calon mahasiswa IMPoME 2011 dari berbagai daerah di seluruh Indonesia yang telah lulus seleksi tahap pertama, yaitu seleksi berkas. Selanjutnya akan mengikuti tes wawancara yang akan ditentukan kemudian.

Sumber: http://www.google.co.id

Janggut Merah adalah seorang bajak laut yang kejam. Pada zamannya para pelaut dan pedagang sangat takut terhadapnya. Setiap kali bertemu dengannya tidak ada kapal yang lolos. Semua habis dibajaknya. Janggut Merah menyimpan hartanya di sebuah pulau terpencil di Laut Utara, Pulau Maanvis namanya. Dalam bahasa Belanda disebut Maanvis Eiland (Pulau Bulanikan). Selama ratusan tahun cerita Janggut Merah menjadi legenda. Namun, baru-baru ini seorang nelayan secara tak sengaja menemukan Pulau Maanvis, dan menemukan sebuah peta di sana. Peta itu diduga berisi petunjuk tempat Janggut Merah menyimpan harta karun hasil bajakannya.

Dengan menggunakan potongan kertas sebagai pengukur dan petunjuk arah mata angin, tentukanlah titik tempat Janggut Merah mengubur harta karunnya.

Kalau Anda sudah berhasil menemukan titik lokasi harta karun, buatlah petunjuk arah yang baru untuk bisa sampai ke lokasi itu. Petunjuk arah itu diperlukan karena Pulau Maanvis tidak berpenghuni selama ratusan tahun, dan tertutup hutan yang sangat lebat. Yang bisa dilakukan hanyalah menyusuri daerah di dekat pantai. Jangan mencoba berenang di laut di sekitar Pulau Maanvis, karena banyak ikan hiu ganas yang siap menyerang.

Muatan Matematika

Bapak dan Ibu guru dapat menggunakan cerita di atas sebagai kegiatan dalam pembelajaran matematika. Sebelum masuk ke soal Pulau Maanvis, anak-anak diajak bermain berpasangan untuk menentukan arah. Caranya adalah seorang anak diminta berperan sebagai sopir (driver) dan harus menutup mata, sementara temannya berperan sebagai pengarah (navigator) yang memberikan arahan dengan kata-kata. Navigator menentukan tujuan yang ingin dicapai tanpa diketahui sopir. Perintah yang diberikan navigator kepada driver hanya dengan kata-kata (misalnya: maju 5 langkah, bergerak ke kanan 2 langkah, empat langkah ke kiri, mundur 1 langkah, dlsb) sampai tujuan tercapai.

Kegiatan pendahuluan ini memberikan pemahaman mengenai arah dan jarak. Setelah kegiatan ini Bapak/Ibu guru dapat melakukan refleksi mengapa ada pasangan yang gagal mencapai tujuan, dan mengapa ada pasangan yang berhasil.

Masalah Pulau Maanvis juga memberikan pemahaman kepada anak mengenai arah dan jarak pada tahapan informal hingga formal (tergantung pada tahap berfikir anak) . Pada peta yang diberikan terdapat petunjuk arah mata angin dan jarak yang harus ditempuh sesuai dengan skala yang terdapat di peta (di sini anak-anak diajak memahami pengertian skala). Siswa juga belajar bagaimana menentukan denah letak benda dan bisa mengantarkan siswa ke pemahaman sistem koordinat. Setelah kegiatan ini, guru akan mudah membawa siswa ke pengertian letak suatu titik pada sistem koordinat kartesius. (SH, IP-PMRI)