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Instructional activities, ability realization and learning achievements for 11 years old above in junior high school students at the phase of formal operational (Piaget, 2015) have significant role in the development of complex cognitive activities in the future. There is strong evidence that working memory plays an important role in learning, especially during childhood. Related studies have already conducted a research about the relationship between children's working memory capacity and their learning achievements in various fields such as literacy, language, and mathematics (Alloway, 2014). Gathercole & Alloway (2009) stated that the working memory measurement of children who start formal education are good predictors in reading skills and numeracy skills a few years later, and can be used to identify earlier to the children with less improvement in their future education.

 

This study aims to 1) show a relationship between working memory capacity and mathematical ability in junior high school students and 2) describe mathematical problem solving abilities of junior high school students with low working memory capacity and junior high school students with high working memory capacity. The study method used was the Mixed Method with Sequential Explanatory Design (SED) model. The sample in this study were 30 students grade VIII at SMP Negeri 2 Mojosari. The instruments used were operation span task, mathematical abilities test, mathematical problem solving task, and interview guidelines. Data analysis techniques used were (1) quantitative data analysis, (2) qualitative data analysis. Quantitative data collection was conducted by using the Operation Span Task to measure working memory capacity and mathematical abilities test to measure mathematical abilities. The data obtained were analyzed by Pearson correlation trial. The results of the analysis were obtained from 30 students, 9 students (30%) had high working memory capacity and 8 students (27%) had low working memory capacity. It is known that there is a significant positive relationship between working memory capacity and math ability of junior high school students (r = 0.469 and P = 0.000). Furthermore, qualitative data collection was conducted to answer the second aim of study, one student was taken from the list of the high working memory capacity group with initial “AD†and one student was taken from the list of low working memory capacity group with initial “AFâ€. Both students were given the task of mathematical problem solving and task-based interviews. The results of the analysis showed that the two subjects carry out all stages of problem solving. The subjects with low working memory capacity “AF†tend to understand the problem for a long time and need more time in implementing the completion plan, but “AF†does not have other strategies to solve the problem. The subjects with high working capacity “AD†tend to understand the problems quickly and implement completion plans, completion steps are written simply, and “AD†has other strategies that can be used to solve problems.

 

The implications of this study can be a consideration for educators to successfully plan the student learning activity by paying attention to the working memory capacity of the students, especially in mathematics learning activity. Educators are able to know the working memory capacity of students and find out the difficulties experienced by students in the classroom, and then think about the appropriate strategies to support students with low working memory capacity to achieve better learning achievement.

Working Memory Capacity, Mathematical ability, Mathematical Problem Solving