Last modified: 2018-07-07
Abstract
Ordinary differential equations is a course that often score average less than of other courses in mathematics education courses. Especially, on the topic of 2nd order non-homogeneous ordinary differential equations, prospective teachers often experience difficult in using the method of variation of parameter. This is caused by several procedures that require students to recall the concepts that have been obtained before, mainly derivative and integral.
This study aims to explore students’ difficulty in constructing a method used to solve non-homogeneous problems in 2nd order ordinary differential equations. The research method used is descriptive-explorative research. The data collected were in the form of responses of 46 prospective teachers of the class of ordinary differential equations semester 6 studying at Universitas Negeri Surabaya in Indonesia. Data obtained using a student work sheet in which consist of several steps in order to construct a method can be used to find the solution of non-homogeneous in 2nd order ordinary differential equations.
The results show that prospective teachers have some difficulties in making relations between two ore more equations they had found. We found that 69.5% of students had most difficulty in emerging an equation consist of   and  due to they didn’t really understand the concept of solutions of equations.