ABSTRACT

 

Problem solving is the ability which can be used not only to solve a simple problem but also a complicated problem. It is kind of skill which can be trained in every level of education. Therefore, teachers are required to be able to trill this ability. It is also a must for mathematics teacher to have an excellent problem solving skills which can be used not only to solve their mathematics problem but also to transfer mathematics problem solving ability to their students. However, Schoenfeld (2014) says that the problem solver does not have easy access to a procedure for solving.

 

The aim of this research was to figure out the ability of postgraduate students to solve mathematics problems. Postgraduate students in Mathematics education program at Universitas Negeri Surabaya had been chosen as a subject of this research. It was because, mostly, all of them are mathematics teachers in high school.

 

The research instrument was developed based on Polya (1973). At the beginning, we did literature reviews in order to explore what kind of problem solving test which could be used to mapping student ability. Furthermore, we constructed a student's worksheet with high order thingking problem which requires student to solve it. We analysed student's work to find out the student's ability.

 

Regard to the results of this study, it can be concluded that the ability of postgraduate students in solving mathematics problem is bad. Almost 100% subjects understand about the problem, unfortunately only 50% of students are able to use the data/information. It is only about 50% of students are able to connect their knowledge with the problem and only 60% subjects are able to make a plan and able to implement it. Regard to the students work who have successfully implemented a settlement plan, it is only about 60% are doing a re-check activity to make sure they have the right answer.